Meanderings with Marauders and Mary
by ilovedraco45
Summary: Lily, Mary and the Marauders have graduated from Hogwarts. Join Lily, Mary, James and Sirius on a journey around the world. LilyJames, sequel to Right Place, Wrong Time. A bit fluffy. Bonus points to whoever got the Lockhart reference in the title!
1. The Party

Chapter 1 - The Party

A/N: This story is dedicated to the memory of Cam DeVore, a lover of travel and fun. Sequel to Right Place, Wrong Time.

"Mary, this isn't funny!" Lily Evans whined. "Can you take the blindfold off now, _please_?"

"For the last time, no!" Mary MacDonald said with a laugh. "We're almost there!"

"This is bollocks," Lily grumbled, before gasping at the feel of wet grass between her toes.

Mary undid the blindfold and a banner proclaiming "CONGRATULATIONS, GRADUATE!" stampeded into view. Her entire extended family (save her sister, Petunia, who was on her honeymoon) was sitting on a table laid with food in the middle of her streamer-covered backyard. "Congratulations!" everyone shouted, echoing the banner's sentiments. Lily found herself being steered to a place in between her mother and her good friend, James Potter, and a plate of cake was set in front of her.

Her father clanked his fork against a glass and everyone fell silent. "To my darling daughter," he started, and Lily and Mary nudged each other under the table. Mark Evans was known for his famously corny speeches. "When the letter first arrived for you, I thought that someone was playing a joke on you. But lo and behold, you were even more special than we could ever know. And since you left for Hogwarts, you have grown and blossomed from my darling little Lilypetal to the beautiful, intelligent, wonderful woman that you are today." James nudged Lily's foot with his under the table, and she nudged back, waiting for the speech to end. "On the eve of your graduation, your mother and I just want to say that we are so proud of you, and that we love you very, very much. To Lily!"

"Lily!" everyone echoed, smiling, and Lily sighed with relief, taking a bite of the most delicious cake she had ever eaten. _Holy Merlin_, she thought, as the flavors exploded on her tongue.

"Presents!" Mary yelled, interrupting Lily's moment with her cake. "Open mine first!" Lily opened it to find a gigantic box of Chocolate Frogs and a book titled _You Made it Out of Hogwarts Alive…Now What?_ Even as she laughed at the title, Lily could feel her throat close up. Hogwarts was her home, and had been for seven years. She couldn't imagine a life without it.

James, noticing her distress, pushed a box over to her. "Here, open mine," he urged. Lily opened the small box and found a delicate silver charm bracelet resting on a bed of cotton. On it were three charms: a book, a tiny lily blossom, and a miniscule hourglass. Lily giggled, recognizing the Timeturner.

"It's not a _real_ Timeturner, is it?" she asked nervously, and James shook his head, laughing. Lily still hadn't forgotten the time that she and James had accidentally time-traveled into the future and met their future son. "Thank you!" she squealed as she leaned across the table to hug him. Had she had more than a split second after pulling away and having an envelope stuffed into her hands, she would've noticed the pink flush creeping up his face, but she was too distracted by the check she had taken from the envelope. "1,000 pounds?" she shrieked, and her parents nodded, smiling. "Oh, my God! Thank you!" she shrieked again, throwing her arms around them.

"What's a pound?" James whispered to Mary.

"Muggle money, I think," she whispered back, but the end of her statement was drowned out by an even louder shriek.

"_Two open-ended plane tickets?_" Lily had opened the last envelope, this one from her grandparents.

"One for you, and one for Mary," her grandmother said with a smile. "Your grandfather and I believe that young people should see the world before they settle down." Lily smiled in spite of herself. Despite her grandmother's up-to-date views about young people, she still wasn't comfortable enough to tell Lily she could take James along. Her smile broadened when James held up an identical envelope and winked.

"My grandparents got them for me too," he said. "Apparently back in their day, wizards would travel around the world and see other cultures before 'settling down', as your grandmother puts it."

"How did your grandparents know about _planes_?" Lily asked incredulously. "Aren't you pureblood?"

"Search me," James agreed, shrugging. "But we're going around the world! I was going to invite you, but you got tickets." His face lit up. "Hey! Now I can invite-"

"Please, _please_ don't say Sirius," Lily moaned. As if on cue, the dark-haired boy appeared behind her with a loud _crack!_

"_Lilyflower!_" he bellowed, grabbing her by the waist. Lily screamed and James roared with laughter, but was silenced quickly by a glare. Lily was waylaid by a great-aunt, leaving James and Sirius to do that manly bump-hug thing and for James to invite Sirius on the trip, which was accepted with a mighty shout of "_Hell yes!_" James grinned, but he was watching Lily talk to her great-aunt. After their sojourn into the future, they were no longer mortal enemies and had even gone on a couple of dates, but Lily had never shown any further interest. James knew that they would end up married, but how were they supposed to get married if Lily didn't act like she wanted to? James constantly tried to remind himself that he should be happy with their friendship, but then he would always be distracted by a thought where her hand had brushed against his, or the way she brushed her hair back from her face when she studied, or the smile she had just given him when she'd opened his present, and he would feel his heart drop into his stomach.

"Prongs," Sirius said, interrupting James' internal monologue. "You're making that face again." James did look slightly glazed, a face that Sirius had taken to calling the "Lilyface", because it meant he was thinking about either Lily or something that had to do with Lily.

"Yeah, sure, I'll talk to your mum about that," James said absently, spotting her standing on the darkening lawn with a drink in her hand.

Lily heard James crunching through the grass before she saw him next to her. "Hey," she said with a smile. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Not as much as you, apparently," James quipped. "Is that alcohol I see in your hand?"

Lily burst into laughter. "James, this is an orange soda." When James still looked blank, she gave him a sip.

"Holy Merlin – fizzy!" James exclaimed, which just made Lily laugh harder.

"I love my bracelet," she said when her laughter had died down. "Thank you."

"It was nothing," James replied. "I'm glad you like it."

"I'm so excited for this trip," she gushed. "It'll be nice to travel the normal way, you know?"

"Yeah," James said. "Think we can make it without running into Sirius' time-traveling daughter or something?"

"I hope so," Lily said with a laugh. "The four of us should meet tomorrow to decide where we want to go. Not here, though. Petunia gets back and I want to be as far from her as possible."

"We can go to my house," James offered. "I live in Godric's Hollow." He scribbled the address on a spare bit of parchment and handed it to her.

He started to say something else, but was cut off by a loud _"Oi! Prongs! Let's go, already!"_

"Such a nice boy," Lily muttered. "Here's to avoiding insanity." She drained her glass. "C'mon, I'll walk you to the door."


	2. The Plans, the Departure

Chapter 2 - The Plans, the Departure

The next morning, Lily was sure to rise before Petunia returned from the airport at ten. _Too late,_ she thought bitterly as she rolled over and read the blinking red numbers on her digital clock – 10:15. Sure enough, Petunia's dulcet squawk could be heard from the kitchen, along with her new husband Vernon's deep baritone. Lily wanted to see her sister about as much as Petunia wanted to see her, so she got up and showered in silence. Returning to her room, she used a spell to blow her hair dry and dressed in denim shorts, a green T-shirt, and silver flip-flops. She grabbed the world atlas book her parents had given her as a girl, as well as a quill, some ink and parchment and shoved it into her bag, and fastened James' bracelet around her wrist. Checking to see that she hadn't forgotten anything, the slip of paper with James' address safely in her pocket, Lily headed down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Hello, Freak," Petunia spat as Lily stalked through the kitchen for a cup of coffee and an apple. It was sad that "true love" hadn't softened her at all. Vernon looked at her contemptuously as she brewed the coffee and drank it down in three gulps.

"I'll be at James' house for most of the day," she told her mother as she rinsed the apple at the sink. "When should I be back?"

"Whenever, really," her mother replied. "Dinner's at 6:30 if you don't stay." Lily nodded, heading back up to her room. Once the door was safely closed, away from Vernon's prying eyes, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and Apparated.

_Whoa_, was her first thought as her body re-expanded. She was standing outside of one of the largest houses she had ever seen. _2109 Peverell Lane,_ the sign above the door proclaimed, matching the address on Lily's paper. She mounted the many steps and rang the bell.

A tall, thin woman with James' hazel eyes opened the door. "You must be Lily!" she exclaimed. "James has told me so much about you. I'm Ms. Potter, come in," she continued, waving Lily inside.

Despite the house's outer grandeur, the interior was much more like a normal house, with comfy couches and chairs in the living room. There was an owl perched on top of the mantle, and Ms. Potter started for it. "He's still asleep, just go and wake him. Top of the stairs, third door to the left," she said, before yelling "Mercury! Outside!" Lily looked for a moment at the sight of the woman now shooing the owl out the window and ascended the stairs.

There were many family photos on the walls, and even more of James: James playing Quidditch, James at the beach, James as a toddler with his face covered with marmalade (Lily stifled a giggle), and James as a baby. After this last picture, Lily saw a door that said _PRONGS' ROOM, STAY OUT SIRIUS._ Laughing softly at the sign, she pushed open the door and entered the room.

Closing the door behind her, she took in James' room. The first thing she noticed was the smell – it smelled of sweat, cologne and grass, classic boy smells. There were posters on the wall of various Quidditch teams (most seemed to be of the Tornadoes), a couple Gryffindor banners, and pictures of the Marauders. A large desk with clawed feet sat under the window, next to a twin bed that James was sprawled out on face-down, shirtless and tangled in the sheets. "James," Lily called softly. "James, get up."

James opened one bleary eye. "No sex now, Lily. I'm sleeping," he mumbled, pushing her into the desk chair.

"Wake up, bonehead!" she yelled, balling up a striped shirt and throwing it at his head.

He sat up groggily. "Lily? What are you doing here?"

"You _told_ me to be here," she said. "I didn't realize that we weren't going to have sex."

James looked confused and…was that disappointment? Lily didn't have time to dwell on it as the disappointment was shoved aside to make room for the horror slowing dawning upon him. "Oh Merlin, what did I say?" Lily smirked. "Shit. Don't listen to anything I say when I'm not completely awake. Last time that happened I told Sirius we were going to eat Ice Mice and ride pink unicorns into the sunset."

Again, as if on cue, Sirius appeared in the doorway. "Lily!" he exclaimed, coming over and sitting on top of James' legs. James let out a loud noise of indignation, which he ignored. "Ready to plan our super-fun trip around the world of awesome?"

"Uhhhh," replied Lily. She still didn't know if she could handle going on a trip with Sirius. She had the feeling it would be akin to going on a long trip with a toddler or a puppy – stressful and rather time-consuming. "We still have to wait for Mary to get here."

James couldn't take it anymore. "Padfoot_, get off of my legs!_" he bellowed, and Sirius stood up with a dramatic sigh.

"You just have to say _please_," he smirked, and James rolled his eyes as he tripped over a Quaffle lying in the middle of the floor and crashed into his dresser, giving the room a great view of his Snitch-covered boxers.

"OhmyGod! Are you – _wauuugh!_" Lily screeched as she felt herself trip and fall on top of James. She looked back and saw Sirius with his foot innocently stuck out. "What the hell, Sirius!"

Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by Mary appearing into the room and asking "Did I interrupt something?"

"_No_," Lily growled. _"Somebody_ thought it would be just hilarious to trip me."

"I'm going to kick your ass, Padfoot," James snapped, putting on his glasses and stretching. Mary saw this and waggled her eyebrows suggestively at Lily, who stuck her tongue out in return. James grabbed a T-shirt and short out of his dresser and put them on, still glowering.

"Okay," Lily said in her best Head Girl, take-control voice. "Now that we're all here, we should decide where we want to go." She got out a scroll of parchment, quill, and ink, dipping the quill into the pot and chewing on the end absent-mindedly. Almost in the same instant, Mary leaned over and took it out, looking disgusted. Lily stuck it back in her mouth pointedly before taking it out and writing _Trip Plans_ across the top of the parchment. "Where do we all want to go?"

"San Francisco!" Sirius yelled.

"Fiji!" Mary shrieked.

"Canada!" James added.

"Belgium and Italy!" Lily couldn't help shouting. She wrote them all down, paused, and added "Why Canada, James?"

"Why not Canada?" he asked. "My aunt lives in Vancouver; it's a pretty cool city. But for that matter, why Fiji?"

"My cousins are Australian," Mary explained. "They never stop talking about the holidays they take in Fiji, and I've always wanted to go. Why Belgium, Lily?"

"Because it's so beautiful!" Lily enthused. "There are lots of gorgeous buildings, and museums…" the boys pretended to fall asleep "…and the national foods are chips and chocolate." Suddenly, the boys were on board and Lily laughed at their predictability. "And I've always wanted to see Italy."

"Which direction do we want to go?" Mary asked. "Do we start in Belgium or fly out to Canada first?"

"Might as well start close to home," James decided. "We can start in Belgium, work our way over to Italy, fly out to Fiji, go to San Francisco and Vancouver, and then go home."

They spent most of the day talking, planning, and eating the sandwiches Ms. Potter brought up for them. Towards the end of the day, when the sun was setting in the west and the sky was beginning to streak purple and pink, Sirius asked "Do we _have_ to travel the Muggle way?"

"Yes!" Lily exclaimed excitedly. James watched with a smile. He loved when she got excited about things, when the color rose in her cheeks and her emerald eyes shone extra bright. "I used to fly to Boston every summer to see my aunt and uncle, and we used to go under the Channel to Paris on weekends in the fall…." Her eyes grew distant as she remembered vacations before her sister started hating her. "Come on Sirius," she urged when he still didn't look convinced. "It'll drive your family _crazy_ if you travel like a Muggle."

James could almost see the little wheels turning in Sirius' head as he weighed the pros and cons. "Okay," he said finally, and Lily cheered.

"This is going to be so great!" she enthused. "I _love_ traveling like a Muggle!"

***

_I hate traveling like a Muggle_, Lily thought darkly as the four friends sat in train seats going under the English Channel. "Lilyyyyy?" Sirius whined _again_. "When are we getting there?"

"For Merlin's sake, Padfoot!" James snarled. "We'll get there _when we get there!_" Sirius rolled his eyes and fell thankfully silent, and Lily closed hers, resting her head against the window and pondering their departure.

Lily had left her house with her suitcase at around 6:30 that morning, hugging her mother and father goodbye. Petunia was, once again, absent, as she and Vernon had moved into their new house in Little Whinging. Lily had been forced to help with the move into number 4, Privet Drive, and she shuddered at the recollection. Little Whinging had been a horrible cliché of a suburb, with identical houses and bratty kids out on tricycles, almost knocking over Vernon and her father as they lugged the sofa into the house. Everyone had met, once again, at James' house, and then they had Apparated to Kent. Lily took them first to a Building Society, where they all changed their pounds into Belgian francs and lira. From there they had Apparated from behind a bush to Ebbsfleet International, where they barely made their train to Brussels, as Sirius had been overly fascinated by the escalators. The conductor's voice over the loudspeaker jarred her out of her reverie. _"Madames et monsieurs, nous sommes arrives dans Bruxelles. Merci pour voyagent au Eurostar._"

"What'd he say?" Sirius asked.

"He said we're in Brussels, and thanks for traveling Eurostar," Lily replied boredly.

"You know French?" James asked incredulously.

Lily shrugged. "Picked it up over the years."

"Wow," he replied. "That's incredible."

She smiled. "I suppose." Just then, the train ground into Brussels-Midi. "Come on!" she exclaimed excitedly. "We have a train to catch to Bruges!" They hurried out of the train and onto the platform and Lily felt excitement mounting in her stomach. Now the real fun could begin.


	3. Bruges

Chapter 3 – Bruges

Disclaimer: I keep forgetting to write disclaimers! Hello, JKR/JKR's lawyers! Please don't file that lawsuit you have in your hand! I'm sorry! I don't actually own anything!

Lily stepped off the train onto the platform and took in a deep breath of North Sea air. _Ahhhh._ "I love the coast," she murmured as they exited the station and caught the bus into town.

"We're lost, Lily," Mary said. "Let's look at the map, okay?"

"We aren't lost!" Lily insisted. "It should be right…here." They stopped in front of a dilapidated street sign that proclaimed _Sint-Walburgastraat_. The streets were roughly cobblestoned and Mary tripped several times in her boots before they stopped outside their inn, The Disgruntled House-Elf.

**FIVE HOURS LATER**

"Well, he's gone," James said with a laugh as he, Mary, and Lily watched Sirius dance around the tavern, nursing his firewhiskey and belting "Odo the Hero" with a couple of old warlocks and a hag.

"I'm tired," Mary yawned. "I'm turning in."

"I could use another butterbeer," Lily said. "I'll be up in a bit." Mary left for their room, still yawning.

Lily made to put her change on the table but James stopped her. "I've got this round," he said.

"Thanks, James!" Lily said, pleasantly surprised. She closed her eyes and took a sip. Even after years of drinking butterbeer, she never got over that first sip, when it felt as though every single cell in her body was being warmed from the inside out.

"How do you like Belgium?" he asked once she'd opened her eyes again.

"It's _wonderful_," she murmured, playing the events of the last five hours in her mind. After first arriving at The Disgruntled House-Elf, the foursome had booked two rooms – one for Sirius and James, and one for Lily and Mary. They'd dropped their baggage and, despite the boys' complaints that they wanted to rest, the girls had dragged them out on a walk around the city. ("Call this a walk! More like a _death march_," James had groused.) The girls cooed over the architecture and visited the Town Hall in the main square where the first goblin rebellion had taken place (Sirius had spouted a surprising number of facts that he had learned in Binns' class, astonishing James and the girls), and the boys ate unhuman amounts of French fries and chocolates, waiting patiently for the girls to get their fill of culture. When the boys had gone from complaints to threats, Lily and Mary had finally given in and returned to the inn for dinner, which brought Lily and James to their nightcap, watching Sirius traipse around with random, drunken Belgians.

Sirius, it seemed, was through with traipsing for the time being and stumbled over to their table. "_Prongsie-poo!_" he giggled. "_Lilyflower!_ What are you two doing on the moon?"

James rolled his eyes and stifled a laugh. "You are _so_ drunk," he said to Sirius, who was now snoring in a chair, his head drooping onto Lily's shoulder.

"Uh, James? Little help?" she asked, fanning Sirius' firewhiskey breath away from her mouth and practically collapsing under his weight.

"Oh, but you two look so nice together!" he shot back, grinning.

Lily couldn't take it anymore. "_Locomotor Mortis_," she intoned, waving her wand, and Sirius drifted a few feet off the ground. She pointed her wand at the stairs and he drifted up them, his head lolling slightly to one side and still snoring. She and James followed him, snickering, up to the boys' room where Lily let him down on his bed, laying him on his side so he wouldn't choke if there were any vomit problems. "Have fun with this," she said, motioning to Sirius. "I expect he'll be a right pain in the ass tomorrow morning."

"Lily Evans, did you just swear?" James asked cheekily.

"Yes, James Potter, I believe I did!" she shot back. "Now that I don't have to hold up my Head Girl status anymore, I might start acting pretty wild. Maybe I'll un-tuck my shirt or start sleeping in until 10!"

He held up his hands. "Don't go too crazy, now," he reprimanded jokingly. "Wouldn't want to lose the Lily Evans we all know and love."

Sirius mumbled incoherently, rolling onto his other side, reminding Lily of where she was. "I should go to bed," she said, yawning and stretching. "Night, James." She hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek, before pulling back abruptly. _What the hell was that, Lily?_ she asked herself.

"Uh. Yeah. Night, Lily," James replied distantly, and she left for the girls room next door. Tentatively, James put a hand to his face. The spot she had kissed was still tingling.

"Turn off the light," the drunken lump on the bed that was Sirius demanded feebly, and James turned off the light and went into the bathroom to change and brush his teeth before bed.

In the girls' room, Mary was sleeping when Lily went in. "Mary?" she whispered.

"Mimblenuhfimble," Mary mumbled, rolling over in her sleep. Suppressing a giggle, Lily grabbed a pair of girly boxers and a tank top and went into the bathroom to change.

_You kissed James,_ her mind reminded her as she brushed her teeth furiously. _Yeah, why'd you make me do that?_ she asked it as she spit into the sink and rinsed out her mouth. _I didn't _make _you do anything,_ it replied smugly as she lathered her face and splashed water onto it. _Oh, shut up,_ she said to herself as she left the bathroom and crawled under the covers, looking forward to a new day.

***

When that new day arrived, Lily woke to the church clock striking nine and the cooing of doves. She rolled over and wrapped the covers more tightly around herself, hoping to get back to sleep, but was interrupted by the sound on James banging on the door.

Grumbling, Lily threw her comforter over her shoulders and shuffled to the door to open it a crack. "Hmmm?" she asked groggily in place of an actual greeting.

"Can I hide in here?" James asked, glancing over his shoulder furtively. "It's only a matter of time before Sirius wakes up, and Hungover Sirius is _not_ pleasant."

"Yeah, sure, come in," Lily yawned, rubbing her eyes. "I need a coffee," she mumbled, grabbing some clothes and retreating to the bathroom.

James sat on her bed and heard the shower start up. Thinking that he'd be waiting awhile, he lay down. Through the wall, he heard a muffled "_Prooongs_?" come from the other room, followed by a stumbling crash.

"Good morning, Padfoot!" James said to the ceiling with a grin just as Lily emerged, dressed in jeans and a sweater with her hair dripping. "How'd you do that so fast?" he asked incredulously.

"Magic," Lily shot back with a grin, grabbing her wand. "Watch out or you'll get dripped on," she warned as she made to sit down on the bed while performing the spell that made hot air come out the end of her wand and directing it at her hair.

Mary opened one bleary eye. "Sup?" she asked sleepily. "Where's Sirius?"

"Indisposed," James snickered and she smiled. "Speak of the devil," he added at the knock on the door.

Mary stumbled over and opened it, revealing a swaying and slightly green Sirius. He took one look at James and Lily sitting on the bed and glared. "Jaaames," he whined. "Where were you when I got up?"

"Trying to ignore your complaining," James replied. "It's been working so far."

Sirius grumbled incoherently before clapping a hand to his mouth and running for the bathroom. "_Ewwww!_" Mary protested. "Puke in your own bathroom, Sirius!" She slammed the door shut with her foot and returned to her bed. "What do you guys want to do today?"

"Sightseeing," Lily said. "There's this little church in the square that I never got to see because they were having services all day yesterday."

"Yes, Lily, that is generally what goes on in church," James snorted, and she swatted him.

"Our flight to Rome is at 6 tonight, so we have to catch a train at 3," Lily continued. "And it's what…9:30 now?" Mary nodded after glancing at her watch.

"I'm _starving_," James put in. "Let's get some breakfast." He crossed the room and banged on the bathroom door. "Padfoot, we're going downstairs for breakfast!" he called. "Hair of the hippogriff?"

"How about just some regular hair," Sirius called weakly from the bathroom. James agreed and the threesome trooped down the stairs to the main area of The Disgruntled House-Elf.

"Coffee, _dames_?" the inn-keeper asked Lily and Mary when they were seated at a table with James.

"Three," James replied. "And three oatmeals, and a hangover remedy for my friend upstairs."

"Right away," said the old warlock, hurrying to the kitchen.

Once they had all finished, James took a goblet of thick, red, smoking liquid up to the girls' room. "Drink up, Padfoot!" he said cheerfully.

They heard Sirius take a drink and promptly spit whatever was in the goblet out. "What in _Merlin's_ name is this?"

"Worcestershire sauce and egg yolk," James said matter-of-factly.

"_Ewww!_" squealed the girls.

"Oh, God!" Sirius moaned. "I put that in my _mouth_?"

"Padfoot, you've had worse things in your mouth," James pointed out. He was referring, of course, to Padfoot's transformations into a dog (in that form, he was particularly adept at catching squirrels), but the girls had no way of knowing that.

"_Ewww!_"

"Thanks, Prongs," Sirius grumbled as he left the bathroom. As the light hit his face, he groaned. "I think I'm staying in this morning."

"I'll stay in too," Mary agreed. "I'm not through laughing at this yet."

"Are you sure?" Lily asked. "I mean, I'm sure Sirius can handle himself, even if he's constantly proving the opposite." She smirked at him and he glared back.

"No, you and James go ahead," Mary replied, waving off Lily's concerns. When Lily still didn't look convinced, she put her hands on her hips. "_Go._"

So James and Lily set off for the main square alone. "I'm going to go over…there," James said, pointing to a tourist-y shop on the other side of the street.

"Okay," Lily said absent-mindedly, already mounting the stairs to the church. What seemed like a million steps later, she opened a large wooden door and entered the sanctuary.

_Oh, my God_ was the first thing she thought when she was able to register something other than blank shock. She had just stepped into one of the most beautiful rooms she had ever seen. The walls were black and the ceiling was covered in paintings, with huge stained glass windows in the back wall. There were rows of pews leading up to the altar, which was covered in gold candlesticks with metal roses trailing around the sides. Blank shock took over her mind again and she lay on her back on one of the pews, hoping she wouldn't anger any priests that happened to pass through.

It felt like hours had passed when James came in and sat next to her head. "Wow," he said, awestruck. "This is amazing."

"If Muggles could create something this beautiful, why would You-Know-Who want to kill them off?" Lily asked the ceiling.

"I don't know," James agreed. They sat there, not talking, not thinking, just being, until James looked at his watch. "Merlin, we have to leave for the train station in half an hour. We'd better go make sure Mary hasn't killed Sirius yet."

Lily nodded and allowed herself to be dragged out of the church. It was one of the most beautiful places she had ever been in, and she was in no hurry to leave, but she knew she had to. There were trains to catch.

A/N: Sorry for the late upload! Hopefully the super-duper long chapter will make up for it! FYI: the church that James and Lily go to is real and one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. If you ever find yourself in Bruges, I highly suggest you visit it. It's in the building next to the Town Hall, the one that looks like it's been through a fire. (Hopefully you can find someone with a better description!)


	4. Italy, Part I

Chapter 4 – Italy, Part I

"Signore e signori, benvenuto all'aeroporto del Leonardo Da Vinci. Il tempo corrente è 5:53 PM. Grazie per pilotare Alitalia," crackled a voice over the loudspeaker, before it repeated itself in English. "Welcome to Leonardo da Vinci Airport. The current time is 5:53. Thank you for flying Alitalia."

Lily stood up and bent almost all the way backwards in her seat, relishing the welcome feeling. Mary, having seen her do this many times over the years, didn't think twice of it, but James and Sirius gaped. "How are you so flexible?" Sirius asked in awe.

Lily just shrugged. "Runs in the family, I guess." People were starting to file off the plane, and the foursome followed.

"I'd never been on a plane before," Mary babbled excitedly as they waited for their bags. "That was terrific!" James made a noise of dissent. "What, you didn't think so?" she asked.

"You weren't sitting next to Sirius," he whispered, before all thoughts flew out of his mind. "Holy crap, look at that!" he yelped, watching the conveyor belt spin around and around as various pieces of luggage came shooting down the mechanized slope. Lily, very used to the baggage claim and conveyor belts, retrieved everyone's luggage as her three friends stared on in awe.

Eventually, she took them on the underground shuttle (prompting more surprised exclamations) to the train station in the airport and shepherded everyone aboard. Once they were zooming north, Mary brought out the sandwiches she had bought in the terminal. James and Sirius finished their sandwiches in record time and were asleep even faster. "They've just been sitting on a plane for three hours!" Mary snorted. "I thought they'd be bouncing off the walls!"

Lily giggled. "They look like puppies," she remarked as she brought out a deck of Muggle playing cards. "Want to learn to play regular snap?" she asked. "It's not as interesting as Exploding Snap, but we can't exactly use exploding cards on a Muggle train." Mary agreed, and they were locked in a rather fierce game when a suave-looking Italian man approached their group of seats.

"_La mia bella ragazza, lo unireste-_" he began, but was cut off by a rather rude "What?" from Mary.

"_Parli_ _Inglesi_," Lily intoned, and he nodded.

"My beautiful girl, would you care to join me in the dining car?" he asked, ignoring Mary, who had started to giggle.

"Ummmm," Lily replied, utterly shocked. She had heard stories from her globe-trotting cousin Sophie about Italian men being more forward than British men, but she hadn't expected to actually have it happen to her. She glanced at James, who was muttering in his sleep and poking Sirius, who seemed to be poking back. "No thank you," she replied with a smile.

"Worth a shot," he muttered in Italian before giving her a seductive smile. "Welcome to Italy then, _mi amore_."

As soon as he was out of earshot, Mary inconspicuously cast _Muffliato_ and started cracking up. "Oh my God!" she wheezed. "I thought everything they say about Italian men was just a stereotype!"

Lily chuckled lightly, still watching James and Sirius' silent poke-fight. Those two were still squabbling, even in sleep! Mary followed her gaze, which lead straight to James' sleeping face. "Lily," she said. "Do you fancy James?"

"What?" Lily asked. "No!" she replied, a little too quickly, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks.

"Ha!" Mary laughed triumphantly, picking up on the blush. "You _do_ fancy him!"

"What?" Lily asked again. "What? No! I mean, it's not like-" she broke off suddenly, her eyes widening.

"It's not like what?" Mary pressed.

_It's not like we end up married, or something,_ Lily thought to herself, her eyes widening further. Even though she knew that she and James would end up married eventually, she didn't think that her feelings for him would develop so fast. Suddenly, her subconscious jerked her mind out of the train and into the future's past. She saw herself sitting in the boys' dormitory in 1999, watched as she leaned into James' shoulder, hiccupping slightly, and felt warmth whoosh from her head to her toes, taking her heart along and lodging it somewhere in her big toe.

"Merlin's beard," she whispered, jolting back to reality. "I – I _do_, don't I?"

"You do," Mary agreed, wearing a triumphant, "I called it" sort of smile.

_I do,_ Lily thought before a wave of exhaustion sent her to sleep so fast she didn't even have time to wipe a stupid grin off her face.

When she woke up, she was lying in a comfortable bed in a Venetian hotel (there were no wizarding inns in Venice.) "How did I get here?" she asked Mary, who was sitting on the bed next to her.

"James carried you," Mary said, as calmly as if she was ordering a hamburger and fries.

All traces of sleepiness vanished from Lily's face as she sat up with a start. "James _carried_ me. All the way from the train station?" Mary nodded. "Did you three walk the whole way?" Mary nodded again. "At least tell me he did something about his bag."

"He covered it in an Invisibility Cloak and _Locomotor Trunk_ed it," she said. "It nearly took out a couple of those…what do you call them? Texas drivers?"

"Taxi drivers," Lily muttered, getting up and heading for the door to the hall. As soon as she touched the knob, it flew open. "Ack!" she yelped in surprise.

"Whoa, sorry Lily," Sirius said. "Listen, we're ready to get some dinner. James is just getting out of the shower-" Mary poked Lily in the back and Lily swung her heel into her best friend's shin in response "-and when you two are ready, we can go. I'm _starving_," he concluded, and Lily nodded, shutting the door in his face so she could change.

"Bit harsh there, Lils!" Mary remarked, rubbing her sore shin and wincing.

"Listen!" Lily snapped. "Just because I fancy James does _not _mean I want to jump his bones and start making babies at the first opportunity I get. If you keep nudging me every time Sirius says 'shower' or James raises an eyebrow, this is going to be a _very long trip_. Understand?"

Mary was undeterred by this outburst. "You loooooove him," she giggled.

_That is it,_ Lily thought furiously. _Levicorpus!_ she thought, flicking her wand upwards. There was a flash of light, and Mary was hanging upside down from the ceiling. "Lily!" she screeched. "You're messing up my hair!" Lily was not put off by this fact and left Mary there as she showered, dressed, and grabbed her bag.

"Ready to come down?" she asked, and Mary nodded furiously. "Say it, then."

"No!" Mary replied defiantly, her face a blotchy red. Lily shrugged and turned to leave when Mary said it. "Lily is a fantastically wonderful witch, and the best Muggle-born of her age."

"And?"

"And Mary MacDonald is a prat," Mary finished bitterly. Satisfied, Lily flicked her wand and thought _Liberacorpus!_ "One of these days, I'm going to figure out how you do that," Mary threatened darkly. "You will never stand upright again."

Lily laughed and slapped a joking smooch on Mary's cheek. "You wouldn't! You love me too much!" Eventually, Mary started to giggle and the two girls left the hotel room arm in arm.

***

The four friends ate dinner at a restaurant overlooking a canal, and then Lily dragged them across town to the Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square.) She'd heard amazing things about the nighttime square from her neighbors, and had always wanted to see it for herself.

_Sweet Merlin_, she thought, her heart catching in her throat. James, Mary, and Sirius stopped next to her and took in the scene. The entire square was full of soft, yellow light coming from the buildings and the pink palace surrounding it. Cafés were full to the brim with people talking, laughing, and eating, and a freelance accordion player worked the crowd, holding his hat out for people to drop lira into. A souvenir vendor was selling a teddy bear in a gondolier's suit to a couple of tourists, and the odd pigeon hovered here and there, emitting an occasional coo on top of an ancient clock tower. Beyond all the beautiful lights and scenes, the Canal Grande glittered with reflected light, boats bobbing up and down as a ferry chugged past. Lily felt a hand take hers, and looked down to see James' thumb rubbing a circle on the back of wrist. They looked at their hands, then at each other, and dropped them quickly, but Lily grinned and grabbed it again. "Come on!" she shouted, before sprinting into the square, dragging the nonplussed James. "_Wheeee!_" she exclaimed, glad that it was night and that she was in Venice and that she was Lily Evans.

Sirius and Mary shrugged and followed, chasing Lily and James all the way around the _piazza_. When the four were bent over and panting, Sirius led them to a gelato vendor and they were happily clutching bowls of the ice cream plastic spoons moments later.

"Whad'ja get?" Mary asked Lily unceremoniously through a mouthful of pistachio.

"Um, _stracchiatella_ and _limone_," Lily said, butchering the Italian pronunciation.

"Chocolate chip and lemon?" Sirius repeated. "Seems like it would be a weird combination."

"It's actually really good!" Lily enthused. "What'd you get, James?"

"Strawberry and coconut," James said. "It's kind of strange, but it's good." They sat and chattered away until the last dregs of gelato were too small to be scooped with a spoon, and then they sat and just looked at their surroundings until James looked at his watch and yelped, "It's like one in the morning!"

_I don't ever want to leave,_ Lily thought dreamily, but she let Mary take her by the hand and lead her out of the square nonetheless.

A/N: Hooray! Lily _finally _realizes that she likes James and they hold hands! And whoever actually takes the time to read A/Ns, I just have to say: Go to Venice. Seriously. Do it. Go to Venice. (Have you figured out yet that this is basically "James, Sirius, Lily and Mary take trips that Maddy has taken in her life"?) :D. Part II coming soon!


	5. Italy, Part II

Chapter 5 – Italy Part II

A/N: I'm pretty sure that 25 degrees Celsius is like the 80s Fahrenheit…. Also, hi FF administrators! Please note that the song lyrics the gondolier sings are mine! As in, not plagiarized or used without permission! Thanks!

Lily woke on their third day in Venice to the sound of clanging bells and crowds of people drifting in her open window. She rolled over, stretching and playing out the last day's events. They had all gone to the pink Doge's palace (Sirius and James had snickered over the color) and visited the Bridge of Sighs, doing all the tourist-y things there were to do in Venice. "Mary?" she muttered groggily.

Mary grunted in response.

"We should probably get up," Lily yawned. "Remember, we promised Sirius-" her words were cut off by a loud bang on the door.

"Rise and shine, ladies!" Sirius' muffled voice bellowed through the door. "We're getting _pizza for breakfast!_"

"Why, pray tell, is _pizza for breakfast_ so important to him?" Mary scoffed, sitting up and stretching her arms above her head.

"I have no idea," Lily replied, heading to the bathroom to wash her face. As the cleanser lathered on her face, she gave herself a bubble goatee, giggling before rinsing it off. Wiping her features with a towel, she contemplated the day ahead of her. Yesterday, just before bed, James had told her to keep tomorrow open, as he had planned something for the two of them. Lily had gone to bed bemusedly wondering about her surprise, but she had forgotten about it until now. Bursting back into the bedroom excitedly, she ran to her suitcase and dragged out a blue cotton dress, which she paired with white flat sandals.

"Someone's becoming quite the fashionista," Mary commented as she stepped into her denim shorts and pulled on a red T-shirt. Lily rolled her eyes.

"It's hot out, is all," she mumbled through the bobby pin she was holding in her mouth as her hands swept a piece of hair off her face and deftly pinned it in place.

"_Sure_."

"It is!" Lily exclaimed indignantly. "It's like 25 degrees out!" Mary smiled knowingly.

"Come on," she said. "It's time for _pizza for breakfast!_" The two girls burst out laughing and left their room to join James and Sirius.

***

"James, can I take off the blindfold? It smells like pee!" Lily whined as James led her over the cobbled streets and bridges of Venice. Suddenly his hand left hers, and she groped the air blindly. "James. James, where'd you go? Damn it, this is not funny! I happen to be the object of a _lot_ of pervy old Italian men's affections, and if one of them comes and feels me up while I can't see, I swear to God I will-"

"-For Merlin's sake, Lily!" James guffawed. "You can take the blindfold off!"

Lily carefully unwound the blindfold to find James standing in front of an honest-to-Merlin gondola, complete with a comfortable, pillow-covered seat and a man with a black and white striped shirt and a hat with a red ribbon. "Oh, my God," she murmured. "James, you shouldn't have!" she cried. _This must have been so expensive!_, her mind stated what her mouth knew better than to.

"Too late, I did," James replied cheekily. "A hand, milady?"

Lily took his extended hand and lowered herself into the gondola. The gondolier smiled down on them, then began to paddle and sing simultaneously. "_La mia signora bella si siede vicino me, non conosco quanto più felice potrei essere…"_

"James, this is _amazing_," Lily murmured, tipping her head back to look at the cloudless blue sky.

They floated in silence for awhile before James broke it. "Have you thought about it much?" he asked. Lily smiled, needing no explanation of what "it" was.

"I thought about it a couple days ago," she mused. "I think he's doing all right. I just wish we could contact him somehow, you know?"

James nodded. "What would happen if you hung a Timeturner around an owl and sent a letter along with it?"

"Something disastrous, most likely," Lily said with a smile. "But maybe we should try it sometime."

They talked and laughed for what seemed like hours, and the gondolier started a new song. _"La luce della luna lucida sui suoi capelli ed il mio cuore comincia a martellare. Nel nostro affare tempestuous, siamo limitati l'un l'altro…"_

Although she was enjoying the song, Lily couldn't help noticing that James' face was getting closer to hers. _He's going to kiss me,_ she thought. _Don't be so daft, Lily,_ she scolded herself. _He's too shy to kiss you in broad daylight in the middle of a Venetian canal – oh Merlin, he _is _going to kiss me!_ her mind screeched as she saw James' eyes dart from hers to her lips and back. She was about to close her eyes when she heard a noise.

_Reeeeeeeee-oooooooo, reeeeeeeee-oooooooo, reeeeeeee-oooooooo, _a siren blared. "Oh shit," Lily murmured, so close to James' face that she could count every freckle on his nose. "James."

"Mmmm?" he asked. _Are her lips as soft as they look?_ he wondered. Just as he thought _oh sod it, I'm going for it,_ he heard Lily screech.

"_AMBULANCE!"_

James whipped his head around so fast he cricked his neck. Swearing under his breath, he looked just in time to see a lime-green and white speedboat proclaiming _AMBULANZA_ on its side zooming towards them, creating huge waves and a huger wake. _"Ahhhhhh!"_ he, Lily, and the gondolier screeched.

"_Reeeeeeeee-oooooooo! Reeeeeeee-oooooooo! Reeeeeeee-oooooooo!" _blared the ambulance's siren. As it blasted by them, a wave of canal water caught Lily and James in the face. Spitting, James looked to see a huge wake wave coming towards them.

"Lily-" he began, but that was as far as he got before the gondola capsized with an almighty _sploosh!_

"Splitttttchah!" Lily spluttered, breaking the surface. "Oh, _gross_!" she exclaimed, treading water. Venice's canals were not what you would call clean. She looked around for James, but he wasn't surfacing. "Don't tell me he can't _swim_," she muttered darkly before taking a huge breath and diving back under the water.

Sure enough, James was frantically splashing around, trying to find something to grab onto. "Grab my hand!" Lily shouted, but to James it sounded more like "BBBgrbbbbabbb bbbmybbyyyy hbbbbbabbbbbbnd!" She brandished her hand frighteningly, and he grabbed it, letting himself be pulled to the canal's edge, where Lily wrapped his hands around the railing. "Hold onto that," she commanded sternly before diving under for the third time to retrieve her shoe, which had come off sometime during the capsizing and rescue mission.

The gondolier shot James a rueful smile. "Quite-a the date, huh, _signore_?" James just glared in response. Not only were he and Lily soaking wet and submerged in a filthy Venice canal, she had just had to rescue him from drowning. _Way to look like a man, Prongs!_ a voice that sounded uncannily like Sirius' chortled in his head.

"Shut up," he snapped to both the gondolier and the voice in his head as Lily emerged, carrying her shoe. "Lily!" he said. "I am _so sorry!_ And I want this comped!" he spat to the gondolier, who nodded fervently.

"Of-a course, _signore_, I should have-a kept-a the gondola afloat," he assured, before mumbling "Damn Britons" to himself in Italian.

Lily's shoulders were shaking. _Oh Merlin, she's angry,_ James thought in a panic. _She's going to totally flip a shit and start calling me Potter again and we'll have to be sent back into the future again and save our great-granddaughter who is also half-troll from evil flying monkeys of doom or something before she starts to like me again! Just when she was starting to like me, too!_ His train of nonsensical thoughts was broken when a tiny giggle escaped her lips.

"Y-you look like a drowned rat," she wheezed. Had they been on land, she would've been doubled over with laughter. As it was, she forgot to keep treading water and slipped under the surface for a moment, emerging spluttering and coughing in between guffaws. James started to laugh too, and they sat there laughing like a couple of crazies before Lily was able to calm down, gulping for air. "It was a sweet idea," she murmured, and James' laughs stopped immediately. He saw her lips inching closer to his and his eyes widened. _This is really happening._ He could feel her breath on his face when–

"Oi! Prongs! What are you doing in the canal?"

_Dammit, Sirius_, James thought bitterly. "We should probably get out," he said to a furiously blushing Lily, who nodded.

***

"Oh, Lily," Mary said pityingly atop the toilet's lid. "It's not that James didn't want to kiss you, it's that he didn't want to kiss you in front of me, Sirius, and about a billion Venetians in the middle of a canal.

"Hang on," Lily called from inside the shower, where she was furiously scrubbing all traces of canal gunk out of her hair and off her skin, having _Scourgify_-ed her clothes. "_Silencio!_" she snapped, pointing her wand at the shower head. "What did you say?" she asked, dipping her head under the now silent water. Mary repeated myself and Lily sighed. "I suppose," she said. "Still, now that I actually fancy him – stop _giggling_ – it seems like the forces of the universe are trying to stop us from actually being together. Which is really annoying!" She shut off the water and Summoned a towel from the rack. "You know?" she asked, her voice muffled by the towel and she rubbed her long red hair dry.

"I know," Mary soothed. "Just give it time. And hurry up – we're going to miss our reservations if we're not ready in about five minutes."

Later, at dinner, James sat with slightly wet hair and glowered at the canal next to their table as though it had done him a personal wrong. "Don't worry about it, James," Lily said again, covering her hand with his. "It was a sweet gesture, even if it went a bit wrong." James smiled just as their food arrived.

"Our last night in Venice," Mary mused as Lily took her hand back in order to start eating. "We leave the Continent tomorrow! I'm so excited!"

"Yeah," Lily said absently, looking out over the canals. She would miss Venice's magic, but Fiji was bound to be exciting as well. "Is everyone packed?"

"No," the three chorused in unison before giving each other strange looks.

Lily sighed, smiling fondly. "Well, you better pack after we eat, we have an early flight. Oh…bugger it all! I forgot to go to the damn bank!"

"So?" asked James through a mouthful of spaghetti Bolognese.

"_So_, we don't have any cash. And can't pay for the meal. _And _all the banks are closed now!" Lily ate and worried until the plates had cleared. "Does anyone else have any money?" she asked desperately.

"Twelve Galleons and a fifty-pence piece," Mary remarked and James and Sirius shook their heads. Lily screwed up her eyes, pointed her wand, and thought _Accio lire!_ as hard as she could, but none came to her.

"We could do a dine and dash," Sirius said.

"No!" Lily yelped. "That's against the law! That's _stealing!_" James, while a bit perturbed by the situation at hand, felt his heart sink. If she was opposed to breaking the smaller laws like this, how would she react when she found out he was an Animagus?

"Look, Lily," Sirius tried to reason. "It's pretty much our only option. Besides, what's life without a little risk?" Lily groaned, recognizing the daredevil glint in his eyes. It was too late to talk him down.

She attempted to talk him down anyways. "_Sirius Orion Black, I am not doing a dine and dash!_" she hissed at him.

He shrugged. "Suit yourself. Well," he said, stretching languidly and standing up with a yawn, "_I'm_ going back to the hotel. Gotta get packing."

"You _wouldn't_," Lily said. If looks could kill, Sirius Black would be a pile of ashes at her feet. Alas, he stood instead and sauntered out of the restaurant, throwing a _"Grazie mille, signore_," to the maitre'd over his shoulder. "That – little – bugger," she seethed.

"I'm going," Mary said, her eyes shining with excitement. "I've never done anything like this before!"

"_Mary MacDonald!_" Lily whispered dangerously, but it was too late. Mary was following Sirius out of the restaurant, a gleeful grin on her face.

"Well," James said uncomfortably. "I-"

"Don't even tell me you're doing it too," Lily snapped.

"No," James snapped back, but there was no venom in it. "I was going to say that you should go so that they can't pin this on you. I'll run for it." He flashed her a lopsided grin and she felt her heart punch her in the stomach. "I'm fast."

Lily sat and pondered for a few minutes. They didn't have any money, after all, and there were only about ten customers left at the outdoor tables. If they waited any longer, there wouldn't be any time for James to make an inconspicuous exit. "Okay," she whispered finally, and stood up, walking past the maitre'd. "_Grazie mille_," she stammered.

"_Prego,_" he replied absently, engrossed in a ledger book that held the reservation records.

She had just rounded the corner and leaned against the stone wall, taking deep breaths to calm her shaking hands, when James appeared. "_Run_," he intoned urgently, and they took off down the alleyway with a crazed maitre'd chasing them, screaming in Italian.

"Why can't we just Apparate?" she shouted to him. _He was telling the truth_, she thought, _he _was_ fast_.

"Not safe!" he hollered. "Come on!"

Lily made to sprint forward, but a cobblestone caught her and she went down. Watching the maitre'd gain on her, she saw her life flash before her eyes. _Oh Merlin, _she thought, _I'm going to spend my life in an Italian jail because I forgot to go to the bank!_ She was on the verge of a full-out panic attack when suddenly a voice that sounded strangely like Mary's rang out in her head. _Lily Evans! Are you a witch or not?_ it demanded. Lily drew her wand, checked for bystanders, and shrieked "_Confundo!_"

The man stopped in his tracks and turned, walking dazedly back to the restaurant. James ran up to Lily and pulled her to her feet. "Why didn't we just think of that straight off?" he asked.

"I don't know," Lily said, panting. "Damn, I'm bleeding." She poked the gash on her cheek with her wand and it healed itself. "Let's go back to the hotel," she said wearily. "I'm exhausted."

A/N: I know! Two thwarted kiss attempts in one chapter! *ducks projectiles irate fans have thrown at her* Just keep reading, good things come to those who wait! (FYI, _grazie mille_ means "thank you very much" and _prego_ is like "you're welcome.") Also, ambulance boats are very real and very badass.


	6. The Epic Plane Journey

Chapter 6 – The Epic Plane Journey

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, I wouldn't have to go to school and I'd be able to update more often.

A/N: Yeah, it's a terrible attempt at inventing a spell. But I didn't learn anything in Latin. R&R!

"_Signore e signori, volo d'imbarco finale 377 di chiamata a Singapore. Volo d'imbarco finale 377 di chiamata a Singapore,_" crackled a voice over the loudspeaker before repeating itself in English. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the final boarding call for flight 377 to Singapore."

"Come on, guys!" Mary said, herding James and Sirius onto the plane, and was followed by a fuming Lily. She, James, and Mary had done a covert drawing of straws to see who had to sit next to Sirius and, of course, Lily had drawn the short straw. _It's six in the bloody morning,_ she thought irritably. _And, of course, I get to sit on an eight-hour flight to Singapore, which is practically war-torn Indochina, next to Sirius Black._

Lily tried to sleep, and was rewarded with a three hour nap before Sirius woke her. "We're bored," he complained. "So we're playing Truth and you have to play."

"I wanna _sleep_," Lily groaned, but her complaints were futile.

"Okay," said Mary. "Here's how the game works. Someone asks you a question, and you can either answer or spin. Usually the game is played in a circle with a butterbeer bottle, but seeing as how we're all sitting in a line, we'll just use _Pointus Randomus_."

"The Random Point Spell?" Lily asked with a groan. She could almost predict how this would turn out.

Mary nodded. "I'll start. And remember: no lame questions like "what's your favorite color?" or something stupid like that." She nodded decisively. "Sirius. What's your biggest regret?"

Sirius pondered for a moment. "Failing my Potions N.E.W.T.," he decided. "Now I can't be an Auror." He turned to Lily. "What happened to make you and Prongsie here decide to be such good buddies?"

"Ummm…" Lily said. "_Pointus Randomus!"_ The wand moved up and down their tray tables and eventually landed on Mary's. James and Sirius made cat-calls as Lily and Mary blushed furiously. Finally, Lily leaned across James' seat and pecked Mary on the lips, prompting more whoops from the boys. "Shut up," she said, swatting them on either arm. "You're disturbing people. Let's see…Mary!" she said brightly, and Mary got a foreboding look on her face. "Was that rumor about you and Peter Pettigrew in the Quidditch shed true?"

Mary flushed bright red. "Yes," she mumbled finally, to the laughs of the other three. "My turn again. James…where do you, Sirius, Pettigrew and Remus go every month?"

"_Pointus Randomus_," James said after a glance at Sirius. The wand moved up and down and landed on Sirius. The girls screeched with laughter as James and Sirius looked at each other, disgusted. Finally, James leaned forward and brushed Sirius' cheek. "_Scourgify_," he muttered, pointing his wand at his lips. Two seats over, Sirius was using the same spell on his cheek. "This does _not_ leave this plane," James said dangerously. "Understood, ladies?"

"But of course," giggled Lily, making a mental note to tell this to Remus at the first opportunity.

James turned to Mary. "Why, pray tell, did you snog Wormtail?" he asked. She chose to use the Random Point Spell and ended up pressing her lips against Sirius'.

Blushing furiously, she turned back to James. "Okay, James, you asked for it," she said. "What's your deepest, darkest secret?"

James sat for a long time before whispering "_Pointus Randomus_." He knew that he had to tell Lily that he was an Animagus sooner or later, but he didn't want to tell her in the middle of a flight to Singapore, and he didn't want Mary to know. The wand moved up and down as though it was in slow motion, stopping in front of Lily. _Oh, sweet Merlin's outside cycling shorts._

Lily's mind was racing with similar thoughts and her eyes widened as James leaned in and captured her lips with his. _They are as soft as they look,_ he thought before his mind drew a complete blank. She reached up and brushed his cheek with her fingertips, and he grabbed them and intertwined them with his hand. They snogged for what seemed like ages before Sirius clapped his hands and shouted "HEY!" The two broke apart, smiling.

"James, it's your turn," Mary reminded him when he made no move.

"Right," he said, jolting back to reality. "Um…why does your sister hate you so much?" he asked Lily.

"She doesn't like things she's afraid of," Lily said. "When I first met…my friend-" Mary reached across James and took Lily's hand "-she didn't like that I was pulling away from her. And when I got my letter, she…she was jealous. I'll leave it at that." Lily felt tears pricking the corners of her eyes and furiously blinked them away. "Sirius," she said, anxious for distraction. "Why did you leave your parents' house?"

Sirius' face darkened. "Because I hate them," he muttered. "I hate them all, their stupid supremacy theories, the way they shun the unfamiliar. I hate being related to Death Eaters. I hate my brother for joining and getting himself killed. I'm never going back there."

"I think the game is over," Lily said, feeling tensions rise. Mary and James were quick to agree, and eventually the three of them fell asleep, leaving Lily to cry silently over the mess that was her relationship between herself and Petunia.

_Why, Tuney?_ she thought miserably. _You were my best friend._ Mary cracked an eye open and saw Lily with her head in her hands and squeezed her hand. "I know," she murmured. "It's okay, baby." Lily sobbed aloud, waking James.

"Lily, what?" he asked, seeing her in her state.

"T-t-tuney," she hiccupped, drawing her knees to her chest. James felt an incredible surge of déjà vu, and he saw himself sitting on an empty bed in the Gryffindor dormitory, patting her on the shoulder.

"Shhhhhh," he soothed. "It'll be okay, Evans." The use of her surname seemed to calm Lily somehow, and she hiccupped again before closing her eyes and taking his hand. He rubbed circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, and by the time Lily drifted off to sleep, she was smiling.

A/N: Turned a bit dark there! I didn't really expect that, but there's probably going to be a little more darkness before it lightens up again. Sorry for the short chapter, it seemed like a good ending place.


	7. Ni Sa Bula!

Chapter 7 – Ni sa Bula!

A/N: A quick guide to Fijian! Bula means hello. Mode (MOH-day) means goodbye. Vinaka means thank you. Kava is a drink made from a powdered root filtered with water through a sock. And a frangipani is a type of flower. Google it – they're _so_ pretty. A bure is like a little cabin/cottage.

The plane touched down on the Fijian tarmac in complete darkness. "Bula, welcome to Fiji!" said the flight attendant over the loudspeaker. The time is 5:10 AM. Please note that all travelers not continuing to Los Angeles must go through customs located by the baggage claim. Thank you for flying Qantas." Lily opened her eyes and cracked her neck loudly. "James," she whispered, shaking his shoulder. "Wake up. We're here."

James cracked open an eye and looked out the window at the moonlit palm trees and the tarmac bathed in yellow. He reached across Sirius and nudged Mary. "Mary," he whispered to here. "We're here!"

Mary woke excitedly, immediately pressing her face to the window to take in her much anticipated Fiji. "There it is," she breathed, fogging up the plastic. "Fiji."

They left the double-decker plane onto an outdoor walkway leading to the terminal. The air was warm and slightly muggy, and it smelled of frangipanis and rain. Once they had collected their bags, gone through customs, and exchanged their pounds, Belgian francs, and lira for Fiji dollars, they headed out of the airport into the still-dark day. "Why isn't it light yet?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Since Fiji is so close to the equator, it only gets like twelve hours of daylight," Mary explained. "Usually from 6 AM to 6 PM."

They decided to Apparate instead of taking a cab to save money, and Lily read the address of the hotel aloud to them. "332 Levu Lane, Nadi Fiji," she read. "Remember that, okay? I don't want anyone ending up splinched in Hawaii." They went behind the airport, where there was only a sullen Indian man smoking a cigarette who didn't even look up at the four loud _crack_s as they Apparated to the inn.

_The Venomous Tentacula_, read a sign with peeling paint on a guesthouse overlooking the beach. Trees and bushes of frangipani flowers surrounded it, along with birds of paradise and some other spiny tropical plants. It was rundown, but beautiful. They stood, staring, until Lily squared her shoulders and strode through the open door.

A dark-skinned wizard missing a tooth was standing behind an old counter in the pub area, wearing an old T-shirt, shorts, and no shoes. "Bula!" he greeted them. "My name is Oro. Welcome to the Venomous Tentacula."

"Hi," Lily began. "One bure under Evans?"

"Of course," Oro replied. "Right this way." He brandished a wand that looked like it was made of palm wood. "_Locomotor Trunks._"

The foursome followed him along a dirt path, tripping over bushes and breathing in the flowery, wet scent that seemed to follow them everywhere. The sun burned down and Lily cringed, feeling her skin burn. 20 feet later, he stopped outside a small hut with a thatched roof. "Bure 12," he said, sweeping his arms wide and directing their luggage into the cottage with his wand. "Rules and regulations…your bure comes with three broomsticks. Please do not fly above fifty feet or leave the grounds. Follow the Statute of Secrecy. Breakfast is every morning from 8 to 11. Enjoy your stay, and don't hesitate to ask for anything."

Lily studied her phrase book. "V…vinaka?" she asked tentatively and Oro smiled broadly.

"You pick up Fijian fast! You'll be talking to little kids on the beach in no time." With that he left, lighting a cigarette and taking a drag as he walked.

Mary was the first inside the bure. The walls were made of wicker and the windows were paneless with screens over them. The doors opened onto a tiny porch with a weathered chair, and the promised three broomsticks lay against an armrest of the couch. The bedrooms were small with two twin beds in each one. Lily and Sirius had just entered and dropped their bags when-

"-_BEACH!_" shouted James and the four friends whirled into action.

"_Accio swimsuit!_" four different voices yelled, and four different suits flew into four different hands. Four different bodies changed in four different rooms, and eight feet flew out the back door, pounding through the sand into the surf.

"It's _warm!_" Lily yelped in surprise. She had just barely gotten all the way in when a huge wave caught her and sent her flipping through the air, freefalling for a few feet until the water caught her and placed her gently on her feet on the sandy ocean floor.

"_Wheeee!_" James and Sirius yelled, tackling each other and splashing into the water. Coughing salt, they emerged a few moments later. "Let's swim out to that dock!" Sirius called to Lily and Mary, and Mary was off, cutting through the water like a fish.

Lily hung back with James. "You never learned to swim?" she asked. When he shook his head morosely, she smiled. "Come on, I'll teach you." She Transfigured a piece of seaweed into a kickboard and soon, James was keeping up with the best of them, despite Sirius' teasing about having to use a kickboard. She pulled him onto the dock and pressed a finger to her lips, pointing and grinning evilly towards Sirius, who was standing on the edge of the dock sunning himself. "One…two…_three_!" she whispered, and she and James grabbed him around the waist and sent him flying into the water.

He emerged seconds later, spluttering. "That's it! You're going _down_, Lilyflower!" Unfortunately, Lily hadn't heard him and when he grabbed her hand and pulled, she was taken completely surprised.

"_Ahhhhh!_" she screeched as she tumbled into the water in a painful bellyflop, just as a huge wave rocked the dock. Somersaulting over and over, she broke the surface, coughing and picking seaweed out of her bikini top. "Ugh," she said, tasting salt in the back of her throat. She was so engrossed in getting seaweed and sand out of her hair and ears that she didn't hear Mary's frantic hisses or notice that James and Sirius were now completely mesmerized in something.

"_Lily!_" Mary said finally.

"_What?_" Lily shot back. Mary just pointed, and Lily looked down to see that the triangles of her bikini top had been shoved apart, giving the two boys a perfect view of her rack. She did the only thing that made sense then – she jumped into the water facing away and furiously pulled the triangles into place. Sirius was guffawing loudly and James was about thirteen different shades of red and purple. His mind had completely short-circuited at this sight. "Stop it!" Lily whined, climbing the moss-covered ladder out of the water.

James watched her come out of the water and felt his jaw drop. The world was moving in slow motion as Lily's slender body emerged, the beads of water on her skin glinting in the sunshine. Her hair was full of salt water and a beautiful smile lit up her face as she laughed, wringing her hair with her hands. "_Prongs_," Sirius hissed. "You're making the Lilyface!" James shook his head slowly and blinked, but he couldn't come back down to Earth. Now Lily was listening to Mary whispering in her ear and throwing back her head in laughter. _I _love_ her,_ James thought dazedly. "Oh, that's it, Sirius muttered. Flicking his wand, he thought _Levicorpus!_ James let out a yell as he was dangled over the clear blue water's surface.

"I see a giant clam!" he yelled, his face turning very red. "C'mon, Padfoot, let me _down_!" Sirius laughed and thought _Liberacorpus!_ and James hit the water with an almighty _splash_!

The foursome stayed out until 6:00, when the sun began to set. "Wow," Lily breathed. "It's like throwing all the paint in the world on a canvas, but something other than brown comes out." James just gaped at this comment. What he wouldn't give to be able to observe like she did. He couldn't stop thinking about their first kiss, and he looked over at her. A peaceful smile played across her lips, and the sunset was reflected in her emerald eyes. _Just do it,_ he urged himself. _There's nothing to it._

His hand was inches from her shoulder when she turned suddenly and said "_Accio Broom!_" One of their brooms from their bure came hurtling towards them and stopped in front of James. "For you," she said, before diving off the dock. "Come on!" she shouted, and the other three were quick to follow – Sirius and Mary in the water and James in the air.


	8. Voldemort Strikes Again

Chapter 8 – Voldemort Strikes Again

_Ease your feet into the sea my darling/it's the place to be. – Belle and Sebastian_

Lily had started waking up early. She rose each morning with the dawn and crashed each night around 11, completely exhausted from just being in such a beautiful place. _That kind of exhilaration takes a lot out of you_, she thought as she padded down the dirt path to the main house in flip-flops. "_Bula_," she greeted Oro absently as she approached the desk.

"Miss Lily!" he exclaimed happily. "Your bure has mail. Would you like to collect it now?"

"Sure," Lily replied, astonished. Who was sending them mail? Her parents were Muggles, of course. The idea that Sirius' family would send him mail was laughable. The mystery was solved, though, when Oro came back from the mailroom with four letters, each with the Hogwarts crest on the back of the envelope. Lily's first, terrified thought was _N.E.W.T. results! _before she realized that she had received her N.E.W.T. results more than a month ago. "_Vinaka_," she said, heading back to their bure with the mail, completely baffled as to its contents.

"He's insane," James said in a low voice. The four had all opened their mail at once, and immediately sat down simultaneously. James stared at his letter again without really seeing it. _Dear James_, it read. _As you know, Lord Voldemort's forces are growing at an alarming rate. The Wizarding Community has been threatened like never before, worse even than the threat of Grindelwald. As such, I have decided to offer you a place in the Order of the Phoenix, a rebel society devoted to fighting the Death Eaters and what they stand for – the genocide of Muggles and Muggle-borns. Know that this is not an offer to be taken lightly. If you accept, you will become, in the Dark Lord's eyes, a mere blip on the map in his way of taking over the Wizarding Community, and he will not hesitate to eliminate that threat. I will understand completely if you decide to turn down the offer, but I implore you to think: this situation is beyond just lives. This is a battle of good and evil, right and wrong. This is bigger than all of us put together, and we need to stand together in order to enact change. Please think about it. Yours Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore._ "He wants us to join the Order? We're just kids! My God, he must be desperate!"

"I'm doing it," Sirius said, his eyes lit up. "Ever since Regulus joined the Death Eaters I've wanted to fight back."

"I'm doing it too," Lily said, her mouth set in a thin line. "If You-Know-Who thinks he can just wipe out my people without me doing anything, he's very, very wrong."

James had had his reservations, but he found himself blurting "Me too," before his brain knew what his mouth was doing. Once it was out, though, it felt right. Quite apart from fighting Voldemort (though he wanted to do that, too), he knew that anything Lily did, he wanted to do too. Mary nodded in agreement.

Lily closed her eyes and pulled out her wand. "_Expecto Patronum!_" she cried, and the silver doe burst from her wand tip. "Go to Dumbledore," she said. "Tell him that Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Mary MacDonald have accepted his offer to join the Order of the Phoenix when they return from their travels. Tell him to keep our families safe as best he can. Talk to _no one but him_." The doe nodded and nuzzled her cheek before cantering off into the horizon. Lily felt sick to her stomach. Though she knew that she had done a noble and courageous thing, she couldn't help wondering if she had just made a mistake. _I've just signed my own death sentence_, she thought to herself as her eyes widened alarmingly. _No. I've just signed my own declaration of independence. If I die, I will die for what's right, not for what's wrong._ And with that, she marched back to her bedroom to change.

***

A week passed in a blur of sun, salt water, and little kids that rode toy broomsticks through the palm trees, shrieking with delight. James learned to swim, and was keeping up with the rest of the friends in no time. Dumbledore sent the foursome more instructions on the Order, as well as news updates on Britain's state of affairs. He had instructed them all to write wills and send them to him. Writing her own will was one of the hardest things Lily had ever done. As she wrote _Tuney can have my wand,_ her eyes filled with tears and one landed on the parchment, smearing the ink. So she threw out that copy and forgot to add the line in the new copy. Nevertheless, Fiji beckoned. They swam, boated, and ran, feeling the happiness that Fiji makes you feel, feeling you're going to burst from it. Lily had never been happier in her entire life. Sure, there was a war going on, but that was far away, in another _hemisphere_. Nothing could touch her, she figured. Oh, how wrong she was.

Two nights before they were to leave, there was a sharp knock on the bure's door. Mary looked up from the foursome's fierce game of Exploding Snap and narrowed her eyes. "Declare yourself!" she ordered.

"It is I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore of Britain, leader of the Order of the Phoenix, and I am here to see Miss Lily Evans." Mary opened the door and the old wizard entered the bure, wearing billowing, midnight blue robes despite the sticky heat. His blue eyes had lost their twinkle, and his expression was rather grave.

"Professor," Lily said, jumping to her feet. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Miss Evans," he said, grasping her hand and leading her into one of the bedrooms. "Please sit." Lily sat, dread growing in her chest. _Oh, Merlin. This isn't happening._ "I am so very sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I'm afraid that despite our best efforts, Lord Voldemort has found your parents. We arrived too late. Your sister survives with Vernon." He fixed her with a stare. "I am so sorry that the Order could not help them."

"It's okay," Lily said in a daze. "When You-Know-Who wants you, you don't stand a chance." Her stomach was beginning to tighten. "Excuse me, sir. I have to go." And with that, she stood on the bed, turned on the spot, and Apparated.

It was mid-day in Little Whinging when she emerged, gasping for breath. She strode to the door of Number Four, Privet Drive and slammed the knocker repeatedly until Vernon opened it. "What?" he asked, quite rudely.

"Petunia," Lily said. The panic was growing. She couldn't breathe. "Get. Petunia. Now."

Vernon looked at her strangely before calling, "Petunia, darling! You have a visitor!"

When Petunia got to the door, her watery, red-rimmed eyes hardened at the sight of her baby sister. "What do you want?" she asked.

"You heard," Lily said. "Petunia, listen to me. We need to stand together if we're going to get through this. Whether you like it or not, you're my sister and I love you. _Please_ forgive me for whatever wrong I've done to you. _Tuney_," she pleaded. "_Please._"

Something flickered across Petunia's face before it darkened again. "If you hadn't been so damn meddling, they'd still be here. This is _your fault_, Lily. I can never forgive you for this." With that, she slammed the door in Lily's face.

Blank shock numbed Lily's body. She couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't breathe. Her instincts turned her in midair and she re-expanded on the beach behind her bure. She looked out on the peaceful night sky and the waves crashing against the shore. _How can they be so calm when my parents are dead?_ she wondered. "_Arrrrrrghhhhhhh!_" she screeched, picking up the hugest rock she could and flinging it into the water with all her might. "They aren't gone! _They can't be gone_! This can't be my fault. No. No!"

When she was out of rocks to throw, she tore off her cloth shorts, white T-shirt, and underwear. Naked, she ran as fast as she could into the surf and dove under, not coming up until she was completely out of air. The anger had faded and she was in a daze. Vaguely, she saw the moonlight gleaming on her skin and felt the smooth, calming sensation of the water on her body. She swam as fast as she could for almost an hour. The tears she cried here were trivial, for they disappeared as soon as they fell into the ocean. Eventually, she looked to the shore to find that James was sitting patiently on the sand, waiting for her to get out of the water. "I'm never getting out!" she called angrily to him.

"I'm in no hurry!" he shot back. "I'll wait forever!" Normally, Lily would've been self-conscious about James seeing her naked body, but she just climbed out, despite her earlier statement. James conjured a blue blanket out of midair and wrapped it around her. "Shhhhh," he soothed, stroking her hair.

"They're gone," she sobbed. "Gone forever. Petunia hates me. I have no one."

"You're wrong," James whispered in her ear. "You have me, Lily." Lily just sobbed harder. "You are a strong, wonderful, beautiful girl, and I will love you and care for you until the day I die and there's nothing you can do about it." _Whether you like it or not, you're my sister and I love you_, Lily thought and dissolved in a fresh wave of tears.

It was awhile before she could speak or even think. When her senses returned, however, she noticed that the waves were rushing all around her feet. She tried to move back, but James held her there. "Let them come," he said, looking directly in her eyes. It was a curious sensation, to hear and see nothing and suddenly have black water surrounding her feet, soothing the aches and pains of her body and heart. Gulping and hiccupping, she focused on James' hazel eyes.

"I love you, James," she said, before pressing her lips to his.

James didn't even have time to think,_ Merlin's globe-trotting great-aunt_. Here in Fiji, on a moonlight beach, kissing a sobbing Lily was about twenty times as magical as kissing her on a dare on a flight to Singapore. She parted her lips and he entered them eagerly, his tongue exploring the ridges of her teeth and the roof of her mouth. Shakily, she sank to her knees, and he followed, still kissing her. Lily's hands left his hair only long enough to tighten the blanket around her, and he rubbed her back, murmuring soothing things into her mouth.

Lily's mind-numbing grief was replaced with mind-numbing joy in James' arms. _I've lost my entire family,_ she thought, _and yet I haven't. James and I will be family forever._ These soothing thoughts, plus the feel of James' large hands on the small of her back, were what eventually drifted her off to sleep.

James knew that Lily had fallen asleep when her mouth stopped moving. He lay on the sand with her in his arms until the mosquitoes emerged, hungry and ready for attack. Sighing, he wrapped Lily in her blanket, picked her up, and carried her back to the bure. "Padfoot," he said, entering the bedroom that he and Sirius shared. "Go sleep in Lily's bed, okay? I need the beds tonight. It was a mark of James and Sirius' brotherhood that Sirius did not make any comments about "getting it on" or something similar. With a wave of James' wand, the two beds were pushed together. James tucked Lily into his bed and he lay down in Sirius', draping one comforter over the two of them. He had never fallen asleep as easily as he did with her head in the crook of his neck and her warm breath on his shoulder.

A/N: YES! YES! YES! _So_ sad, but they kiss! I hope you liked it! FYI, I'm not very good at kissing scenes. If you have any suggestions on how I could improve this, I'd love to hear them! Next chapter coming ASAP!


	9. Together

Chapter 9 – Together

Lily woke with the dawn and realized three things straight away. First, her head was tucked into the crook of James' neck and she had drooled in her sleep (she blushed, mortified), second, that James wouldn't care whether or not she drooled, and third, she was completely naked under the damp blanket wrapped around her. Carefully untangling herself from James' arms, she crept into her room, blankly registering that Sirius was lying on his stomach in her bed, snoring loudly. Slipping into her pajamas, she got back into bed with James. His hair was full of sand and there was a tiny smile on his face. As she burrowed under the comforter and went back to sleep, James' arm reached out and pulled her back into his chest and she made no attempt to move.

James woke at nine that morning, and was surprised to find a shock of red hair poking out from under the covers next to him. Last night's events came crashing back into his mind, and his smile fell off his face. Lily had lost her entire family. _And we finally snogged,_ he thought, the big, goofy grin overtaking his features again.

Lily stirred and her green eyes opened sleepily. "Hey," she said with a faint smile.

"Hey," James replied, kissing her forehead. "Are you okay?"

Suddenly, Lily remembered everything – her parents' death, Petunia's rejection, her crazed late-night swim, and falling asleep in James' arms. "No," she whispered, as a tear made an escape attempt down her cheek. James wiped it away with his pinky finger and smiled sadly.

"I love you," he whispered, bringing her lips to his. They stayed like that until they heard a large _thud_ from the next room, followed by an angry "_What the hell are you doing in my room?_" from Mary. Lily giggled wetly and sat up, looking across the hall into her room.

Sirius ran terrified back into his and James' room. "Blimey, mate," he breathed, looking at James. "That is the _last_ time I switch rooms with Lily. That Mary gets super-pissed when she wakes up and finds me in Lily's bed staring at her. She thinks I'm some kind of pervert!"

"I wonder why," Lily said, bursting into laughter even as the tears ran down her face.

Mary came stampeding into the room soon after Sirius had managed to tug on a shirt and shorts, holding a high-heeled shoe like a club. Her face was bright red and she was about to launch into a screaming tirade when she saw Lily sitting up and James' arm around her shoulders. "Hey," she said. "How are you?" Lily hiccupped and wiped her eyes, still giggling, and Mary ran to her and threw her arms around Lily.

James and Sirius left Mary and Lily to have some "girl time", as Sirius put it, and retreated to the kitchen. "What _happened,_ mate?" Sirius asked, pouring himself a glass of iced pumpkin juice.

"Well, Dumbledore told us all what happened," James replied, finishing his own glass. "And then he told me that Lily was gone and that I should stay up until she came back. So while you and Mary started a Gobstones match, I heard a scream on the beach and ran outside."

"Yeah, I was there for all of that," Sirius said, waving his hand.

"Okay, so I'm out on the beach and I see Lily throwing rocks into the water. And then when she ran out of rocks, she _stripped and went skinny-dipping_."

Sirius did a spit-take. "_Whaaat_?" he choked out.

"_Yeah!_" James replied. "So I went and sat on the beach until she got out, still naked,"-Sirius' eyes were bugging out of his head picturing this-"and we talked for a minute and then we snogged," James finished, his eyes lighting up even as he tried to remain nonchalant.

"Prongs. That's great," Sirius said sincerely, grinning. He looked furtively towards their bedroom, cast _Muffliato,_ and shouted "YOU DID IT!"

"I DID IT!" James yelled, and they jumped around for a minute before James headed outside to get Lily's clothes off the beach before the tide took them away.

In the boys' room, Lily was lying with her head on Mary's shoulder, having cast _Muffliato_. "So what happened?" Mary asked.

"We snogged," Lily said, grinning.

"_What?_" screeched Mary. "Oh my God! Tell me _everything!_"

"Okay," Lily began. "So after Dumbledore told me what…what happened, I Apparated back to Little Whinging." She began tearing up. "I knocked on the door and asked to speak to Petunia and…and…she b-blames me for M-Mum and Dad's d-d-death," she finished, sobbing. "And she's right! If I hadn't joined t-the Order, t-they'd still b-b-be here!"

"_No_," Mary said forcefully. "It is _not_ your fault, Lily. You-Know-Who…I know this isn't any kind of comfort, but You-Know-Who probably would have come for them anyways. At least they don't have to watch the country break down slowly. They're happier this way, Lily," she soothed.

"A-anyways," Lily continued, gulping air. "I came back and started…I don't know, started freaking out. And the next thing I knew I was in the ocean and James was on the shore. I told him I was never coming out, but he said that he would wait for me forever." Mary made a cooing noise and Lily smiled. "So when I got out…I don't really remember what I said, but he told me that he would love me and care for me until the day he died. And then I told him that I loved him and we snogged. I guess he wrapped me in a blanket and carried me inside, because when I woke up I was in bed with him and Sirius was in my bed."

"Merlin's starry hat," Mary breathed. "That is _so cute_." Lily nodded, grinning as she impatiently brushed away a few lingering tears. "I'm going to get some breakfast," Mary decided. "Do you want me to bring you anything?"

"Nah, I'll be out in a bit," Lily replied. "I think I'm going to take a shower first." Mary nodded and left.

After a long, hot shower a, dry swimsuit, and a fresh change of clothes, Lily was ready for breakfast. James was sitting at the table, completely engrossed in his cornflakes, and Mary nudged Sirius as Lily approached the table, prompting him to raise his glass. "To Prongs and Lily finally snogging!" he shouted, raising his pumpkin juice.

"Finally!" Mary echoed, handing Lily a glass. Lily clinked her glass against the other three's, and downed the juice in one. She sat down next to James with a bowl of cornflakes of her own, nudging his foot with hers.

When she was finished eating, James cleared his throat. "We're going to do whatever you want to do today, Lily," he stated and the others nodded.

"I kind of want to go swimming again," she mused.

"Done," James said with a grin, picking her up in a fireman's carry and running out to the beach with her over his shoulder.

"_James Harold Potter!_" she shrieked, enjoying every minute. "Put me down _this instant!_"

"Done!" James said again, dropping her into the water.

"You little shit!" she yelped when she emerged, grinning. Launching herself at him with her hands outstretched, she tackled him and dunked his head under the water.

He came up waist-deep next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "So…are we together now?" he asked, hardly daring to hope.

"Yeah," Lily replied, pressing her salty lips to his cheek. "Yeah, I think we are."


	10. San Francisco

Chapter 10 – San Francisco

Disclaimer: I own a stash of Halloween candy, this laptop, and the ideas in my head, which have produced this fanfic. JK owns everything else – even that death ray that the USSR was supposed to be building awhile back. Look on the side – it says _Property of JKR_.

A/N: I've been a bit distracted from this chapter by OBAMA'S STUNNING VICTORY, so forgive me if it takes a bit. Remember: BART stands for _B_ay _A_rea _R_apid _T_ransportation (it's the subway.)

Lily put the last of her new clothes bought in Fiji and her vial of sand into her suitcase (which had an Undetectable Extension Charm on it) and zipped it up. "I don't want to leave," she said to Mary, who was struggling with her own suitcase across the room.

"I know," Mary replied, staring out the window at the sugarcane plantation to the left of the resort. "It's hard to leave."

"I mean it," she said. "I'll stay and dread my hair and stop wearing shoes and get a palm-wood wand like Oro. James and I can have kids with red hair and hazel eyes that swim like dolphins."

"You're babbling," Mary laughed. "Come on." Lily and Mary dragged their luggage out to the main villa, where Oro was waiting to bid the four friends farewell.

"Miss Lily," he said. "Never forget the spirit of Fiji, and it will never forget you." Lily wiped away a tear and hugged Oro tightly. He said goodbye to each of the other three friends in turn, and Sirius turned to the rest of them.

"Are we flying again?" he asked.

"Let's not," Lily said. "I've had enough of planes for now. Let's just Apparate." So they all joined hands, closed their eyes, turned in midair and Apparated to San Francisco, California.

***

"Whoa," breathed James, opening his eyes. They had landed right in the Powell Street BART station at seven in the morning, and it was completely filled with businessmen and commuters bustling past. "Did we accidentally Apparate back to London?"

"Nope," said Lily, pointing out a girl in a long skirt and longer hair, wearing flowers and strumming a guitar while holding a sign that said _US OUT OF VIETNAM!_ "They don't have many of those in London." The four friends rode the escalator to the street and were completely floored by the sight before them.

Powell Square was a mass of businesspeople, tourists, hippies, and the homeless, completely surrounded by shops and skyscrapers. "America," Mary whispered, "is _huge_." Lily could only nod in gaping awe, and her fingers intertwined with James'.

They changed out their money and caught a Muggle taxi to their hotel, just a regular Holiday Inn. "You guys have _got_ to see this," Sirius said, poking his head into Lily and Mary's room. They followed him down the hall to the vending and ice machine to find James poking random buttons, having gotten an overflowing bucket of ice, a package of Cheetos, plain M&M's, Lifesavers, and a bunch of other junk. He had furtively pulled out his wand and started tapping the ice machine, muttering "_Specialis Revelio!_"

Lily laughed so hard she nearly cried. "James," she said between giggles. "This is an _ice machine_."

"How does it _do_ that?" he asked in awe.

"It freezes water and then divides into cubes with like…electricity and a motor and stuff," Lily explained. "And that next to it is a vending machine." Her giggles resumed at the sight of Sirius and Mary completely engrossed in pushing various buttons on the machines, prompting her to drag them away. "Come on; let's go back to the room before you break something."

Sirius led them all around the city, from the TransAmerica Pyramid and Chinatown to Coit Tower and Ghirardelli Square, where they bought huge ice cream sundaes, Lily took quite a few pictures of James and Sirius with chocolate-covered faces, and James kissed her with his chocolatey lips, turning her mouth brown.

On the cable car back to their hotel, James turned to Sirius. "It's the full moon tomorrow, Padfoot," he said. "What do we want to do about it? I mean, now that we've graduated, are we still going to be there?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Sirius asked, fierce loyalty flashing in his eyes. "Moony is our friend, and he needs us right now. _Of course_ we're going to be there!"

"Okay," James said. "I guess we need to make an excuse to the girls." They pondered for awhile as the cable car sped down a huge hill and Lily and Mary hung on the outside, screaming happily.

"Shopping for an engagement ring for you and Lily?" Sirius asked, grinning.

"I am not getting married yet, Padfoot!" James snapped. "I'm 18!"

"Okay!" Sirius replied, throwing up his hands in defense. "Sheesh. I guess…I got it. We'll tell the girls to go shopping. We'll tell them we're looking at…I don't know, some sports thing or another. They won't notice we're gone for _hours_."

"That's actually a good idea, Padfoot," James said incredulously.

"Of course it was!" Sirius said. "Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go hang off the side."

"Wait for me!" James called, pushing past a couple of rather large Iowans to stand between Sirius and Lily on the edge of the car.

***

At eleven the next morning, James was walking in North Beach with Lily when his watch yelled "_Come on!_"

"Right," James said. "Listen, Lily, Sirius and I are going to go to Candlestick Park today to see a baseball game. We've heard so much about the sport, whatever the hell it is, that we want to try it. So if you and Mary want to do some shopping, you could do it today without me and Sirius complaining about it."

Lily fixed him with a calculating stare, even though she was smiling. "You're lying to me, James Potter," she said.

James groaned inwardly. "Yeah, I am," he admitted. What was the point of denying it? She could read him like a book. "I can't tell you the truth though. Not until I run it by a few people."

"You can trust me," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Whatever it is, I'll keep it to myself."

"I…I know," James replied, distracted by the fact that she was so close to him. "But this is bigger than just me. It involves more than one person. I'll…I'll tell you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," she said, kissing him quickly.

"I'll be back around eleven tonight," he said, kissing her back. "I love you."

"I love you too," she said. He began to walk away to meet Sirius. "James!" she called, and he turned. "Whatever it is…be safe, okay?" James gulped. It was almost as though she knew.

"I will," he promised, before ducking behind a warehouse and Apparating to the Lupin house.

It was six in Bristol when James arrived at the front door. Sirius was already waiting, tapping his foot. "She knows I'm lying," he gasped, massaging his ribs. "I want to talk to the three of you. Is Peter here?"

"He's upstairs," Sirius said. "Let's go." With that, he grabbed James' wrist and Apparated again.

"I never thought I'd be back here," James said in a low voice, looking around the Shrieking Shack with Remus, Sirius, and Peter. "It feels weird to not be at Hogwarts anymore. Okay, I have to run something by you guys."

"Shoot," said Peter, and Remus nodded.

"Okay," James said, taking a deep breath. "In Fiji, Lily and I got together." He was forced to pause, as Remus and Peter were cheering and laughing. "No, guys, this is serious. I _love_ her. And…and we're going to be married. No, don't ask me how I know," he said in response to Sirius' questioning stare. "I just do. I want to tell her about us. I know Lily. We can trust her."

"Honestly, Prongs?" Remus said. "I think she already knows…about me, at least. I know that Snape always had his suspicions."

"But what about the rest of us?" Sirius asked. "I mean, this isn't some silly prank, Prongs! We broke the _law_, and a pretty major one at that! How do you know that you don't get…divorced or something in the future and she doesn't out all of us? We'd spend years in Azkaban!"

_Yeah, well, you're going to do that anyways,_ James thought bitterly. More than anything he wanted to tell the Marauders, his best friends, about his sojourn into the future with Lily and finding out their fates. "Padfoot," James said. "You are my best friend. When have you not been able to trust me on something?"

"I trust you, mate," Sirius replied. "I just don't trust Evans enough to tell her our deepest, darkest secrets!"

"If the past month or so on the road has taught you _anything_, it should be that Lily is a trustworthy person, Sirius!" James exclaimed. "Come on, Padfoot, please. Please do this for me. If you don't trust Lily, then you don't trust me."

"I trust you," Remus said. "And I trust Lily. You can tell her about me."

"Me too," echoed Peter.

The three Marauders stared at Sirius, who seemed to be contemplating his problem deeply. "Okay," he whispered finally, and James clapped him on the back.

"Moon's coming out," Peter said, pointing to the full moon. Sure enough, Moony's pupils had begun to dilate and the three friends crowded around him, soothing him and patting his back until the transformation was complete and they were forced to morph into their Animagus forms.

***

When Lily was just drifting off to sleep, James silently cast _Alohomora_ on her door and crept inside. "Mary," he whispered, and Mary looked up from her book with raised eyebrows. "Would you mind taking my bed tonight? I'm pretty sure the sheets are clean." Mary nodded. "I owe you one," James said gratefully, and she smiled, tiptoeing out the door. When it was fully shut, James turned to Lily. "Lily," he whispered, rubbing her shoulder. "Lily, wake up."

"Smurfs are eating my purple Jell-O," she mumbled. "That's _my_ Jell-O."

"I know it is, sweetie," James replied, holding back a laugh, "but James is back. Wake up."

Lily opened one eye blearily before sitting up so fast James didn't even see her move. "You're _bleeding_!" she cried, looking at his left shoulder, aghast. Before James could tell her not worry about it, she had run to the bathroom and returned with wet and dry towels and had set to work cleaning his cut. "Arms up," she ordered, and he obliged.

"Yeah," James agreed softly, watching her take off his shirt and daub at the wound on his shoulder. "Yeah, I am."

"Does this have anything to do with where you were tonight?" she asked, not taking her eyes off her work. "_Accio Peroxide._"

"Yeah," James said yet again. "I – ouch, that stings – I was in Hogsmeade."

"Not just for a Honeydukes run, I'm sure," she said, poking the cut with her wand. It sewed itself up instantly and James smiled at her prowess.

"No," he agreed. "I – I was in the Shrieking Shack."

"The Shrieking Shack?" she asked in disbelief. "I know that whole thing about it being haunted is bull, but why the hell would you go there?"

"Um." James flicked their beds together with his wand again and sat Lily down on hers. "You know how Moony gets sick every month at the full moon?"

"I know he's a werewolf, yes," she said. Her eyes widened in fear. "Oh my God…I know you're his friend, but to risk your life hanging around a werewolf at the full moon? How could you be so _stupid_?"

"Well," James said. "Not exactly."

After he had told her everything, Lily jumped up, her eyes flashing. "This is _unbelievable_," she hissed. "How could you be so damn _stupid_, James Harold Potter?"

"Lily, please, hear me out," James began, but Lily was just getting her tirade started.

"That is an _incredibly_ dangerous thing to do! I mean, what if he injured you really badly, or killed you? I know he couldn't make you into a werewolf, but you could all still _die_! Not to mention the fact that being an unregistered Animagus is _completely_ illegal, I…I-" she broke off, choking up. "How could you do this to me?" she whispered, shaking. "I've lost _everyone,_ James. What am I supposed to do when I lose you?"

"Lily, I'm not going anywhere," James said, an intense look in his eyes. "You have to trust me. I'm not going _anywhere_."

"How can I believe that?" she asked, her hands fluttering around her face nervously. "This…this…this…this…" she trailed off, breathing hard.

"You can believe me because we die together, remember?" he asked. "At the hands of You-Know-Who for our child."

"Oh," she said in a small voice. "Right."

"Right," James echoed.

"I just…I just…I don't know," she whispered, sitting down. They sat in silence for awhile, James rubbing her back, before a small smile lit up her face. "Can I see it?"

"See what?" he asked, completely distracted.

"Your _form_," she prodded gently. "Actually, hang on." She pressed a button on the telephone and it began to ring in Sirius' room. They heard shrieks of _"What the hell is that?_" from the next room and cracked up, holding their sides.

Finally, they heard Sirius say "I think we're supposed to pick it up," and there was a clicking noise. "HELLO?" he bellowed into the phone.

"Just talk in a normal voice, Sirius," Lily said. "Come over to our room, okay? I want to see what your form is." They both hung up and there was a knock on the door a couple seconds later. Lily opened the door to see a very furtive-looking Sirius. "You should just know that I was on the fence about telling you this," he warned. "But I trust you."

"That means a lot, Sirius," Lily said with a smile. "Now show me your forms!"

"Draw the shades," James requested, and she obliged. When she turned around again, a stag and a dog were standing before her.

"_Prongs_," she whispered. James was a beautiful stag with a glossy coat and huge, brown eyes. The black dog gave a great bark that, Lily noted, sounded just like Sirius' laugh, and bounded towards her, burying its nose in her crotch. "_Sirius Black!_" she screeched, but needn't have bothered: the stag had flung Sirius out of the way with a graceful flick of the horns. "Okay, change back before you break something," she ordered, and James and Sirius reappeared, Sirius rubbing his shin bitterly.

"You are _way_ stronger as Prongs than you are as James," he snapped, and James laughed.

"Sorry, mate," James said, still laughing. "I don't know my own strength, I guess." Sirius glowered but laughed eventually, and returned to his room.

Lily giggled softly. "You have no idea how weird it is to see a deer and a dog in a Muggle hotel room."

James pretended to be offended. "I'll have you know that I am a _stag_, not a deer. Deers are women. I am a _man_."

"Okay, Mr. Man," Lily said with a smile, patting the bed next to her. "Come get in bed, then."

"Can't say no to a pretty girl," James quipped, and Lily flicked the lights off with her wand. "I like this," he whispered, snuggling against her and tickling her stomach.

"Ack – stoppit!" she giggled, squirming, and he kissed her nose. "Goodnight, Prongs."

"Night, love," James replied, and they fell asleep in each others' arms.


	11. The DecisionMaking Process

Chapter 11 – The Decision-Making Process

Disclaimer: You know the deal. Who wouldn't love to be JKR?

A/N: Hello, fantastic readers! Just FYI, the Internet's going to be out at my house until like…Monday, so hopefully when it's back up I'll have a few new chapters for you. Possibly the fic will be finished? I don't know.

When James woke, the telephone was ringing. Even though he'd never used a telephone in his life, he tried to remember what Lily did and picked up the receiver.

"Grello?" he asked incoherently.

"Mr. Potter, this is your wakeup call," a woman's voice said.

"Yeah, thanks," James muttered, hanging up.

Lily stirred, opening her eyes and brushing her hair off of her face. "What time is it?" she slurred sleepily.

"S'like…7:30," James mumbled. "Why do we have to be up this early?"

"You can sleep on the plane," she said, kissing him. "But come on, we have to get packed and I need a shower." She made to get out of bed.

"Mmmm…no you don't," James murmured, tugging her back into bed.

"Yes, I _do_," she giggled, lovingly prying his fingers off her arm and heading into the bathroom. When she was finished showering, James had gone to his and Sirius' room, dressed, packed, and was asleep again. _Impressive,_ Lily noted, waving her wand at all her stuff and directing it into her suitcase. When she was dressed and ready, she dragged James out of bed and into Sirius and Mary's room, where they checked out and Apparated to the Oakland International Airport.

"I've never seen so much weird carpeting," Sirius said with a laugh as they passed through security. Just as they were about to make for the gate, they were stopped by a guard.

"Miss! You forgot your stick!"

"Oh, God!" Mary yelped, grabbing her wand. "Thank you! That would have been really bad!" Muttering to herself, she put her wand in her pocket and hurried after the other three.

On the plane, Lily sat by the window. As it rose in the air, she looked out to cast her eyes on California one last time. The San Francisco Bay was all around them, and she could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. "Until we meet again," she whispered, contenting herself with counting backyard pools until the plane disappeared into the clouds and San Francisco was gone.

***

"_Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The current time is 5:15 PM, and the current temperature is 65 degrees and drizzly. If you have checked your bags, please proceed to Carousel Three after disembarking. Thank you for choosing Alaska Airlines, and we hope to see you again soon."_

Purple and red lights flashed on the tarmac as the plane pulled into Gate D12. As the foursome disembarked the plane and proceeded to Carousel Three as instructed, they looked around at the masses of Asian people and fast-food restaurants that seemed to fill the hallways of the airports on all sides. Having collected their bags, they rented a car and piled their bags in the back.

"You can drive?" Sirius asked Lily incredulously.

"I got my Muggle license the summer after fifth year," she said, jingling the keys. "Who wants the front?"

"Me!" three different voices chorused, and they drew straws. Mary won and settled herself in the front seat next to Lily, looking around at all the dials and switches. "What's this?" she asked, pointing to the radio.

"It's a radio," Lily explained. "Let's see whether the Muggles like the same music here as they do back home." She switched it on and James, Mary, and Sirius gaped, marveling at non-magical inventions as Lily found a good station and pulled out onto the road.

"Wow," James said. "I can't believe you know how to – _what in Merlin's name are you doing_?" he shrieked as Lily headed up the street.

"This is America," Lily explained patiently. "They drive on the other side of the road here."

"Right," James replied meekly and Mary laughed. They passed shopping malls and restaurants, as a sea of cars became a sea of red taillights as the sun set. The windshield wipers beat the rain back and forth as Lily sped up I-5 heading north.

***

About 10 miles from the border, James shook Sirius awake. "Padfoot," he hissed. "I need to talk to you."

"S'midnight," Sirius grumbled. "What do you want?"

"Hang on. _Muffliato_," James whispered. In the driver's seat, Lily stared out the windshield at the never-ending pine trees and puddles that made up the Pacific Northwest, listening to the radio and not suspecting a thing. "Padfoot, I'm going to marry her."

"I know you are," Padfoot replied, yawning. "You told me, Moony, and Wormtail in the Shack, remember?"

"Yeah, but I was serious. I'm seriously going to marry her. And I'm going to propose to her in Vancouver."

"_What_?" Sirius yelped. "Prongs, you're eighteen! And she's seventeen! You can't get _married_!"

"Padfoot, we're at _war_," James said in defense. "How do I know I'll be here next month, or next week, or even tomorrow? I love her, and she loves me. Why can't we make it official?"

"Because you're too young!" Sirius exclaimed. "What happened to…I don't know, being a bachelor or whatever?"

"I don't want to be a bachelor," James pointed out stubbornly. "I want to be married, and I'm _going_ to be married."

"Prongs, you're my best friend," Sirius. "Just…just think before you act, okay?"

"Okay," James said before lifting _Muffliato_. "We're at the border anyways. How're you doing, Lily?"

"I'm _so tired_," she murmured. "Next gas station I see, we're stopping for coffee." Stop they did and they were pulling into their hotel in Vancouver at 2 that morning. "Two rooms under Evans," she said to the half-asleep night clerk. He gave her the keys and they put Mary in a room with Sirius, leaving James and Lily to take the king-size bed in the other room. "G'night," she mumbled, throwing herself onto the bed and falling asleep before her head hit poly-blend.

_Yep,_ James thought, looking down at her as he reached to take off her shoes. _I'm going to marry her_.

A/N: Okay, so this chapter sucks. I guess it's more of a filler. But now you know the next major plot point!


	12. Auntie Lu and the Ring

Chapter 12 – Auntie Lu and the Ring

Disclaimer: I own Auntie Lu. That's it.

A/N: I have a tiny bit of writer's block, so bear with me. Cookies for whoever picks up on the _Wizard People, Dear Reader_ reference. (Hahahaha, I _so _didn't finish the fic over the weekend. Memorial services, _Chamber of Secrets_ movies, and _Superbad_ got in the way.

Lily, having been awake for almost 24 hours, stayed asleep until almost noon the next day, which gave James plenty of time to brood. _To propose, or not to propose_, he thought. Having not made his decision by the time Lily woke, he told her to pack her stuff, because they were moving out of the hotel and into his aunt's house.

***

"_Jamesie-poo!_" shrieked Luella Potter, a middle-aged woman with a matronly figure as she ran across the yard to the car.

"Jamesie-poo?" Lily, Mary and Sirius repeated, smiling wickedly.

"Shut up," James grumbled good-naturedly before opening his arms and hugging Luella with a "Hi, Auntie Lu."

"Oh, James, look how you've _grown!_" Luella gushed. "You're such a man!" She caught sight of Lily and grinned. "And this must be your young lady," she whispered conspiringly before throwing her arms around Lily. "Welcome to the family, baby!"

"Thanks," Lily said uncertainly, shooting James a look over Luella's shoulder that clearly said, _is this for real?_

"Well come in, come in," Luella said, showing them inside her one-story ranch. "We'll all have a butterbeer…oh, Sirius, it's so nice to see you again! Your skin has cleared up real nice." Sirius groaned under his breath and Mary laughed.

Several butterbeers later, everyone was feeling nice and relaxed. "I suppose I should get to work," Luella said after glancing at the clock.

"Where do you work?" Lily asked, curious.

"The Accidental Magical Reversal Squad at the Canadian Ministry," she replied. "I took the morning off to see you all, but I should probably be getting back."

"I've never been to the Canadian Ministry," Lily said, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Oh, from what I've heard it's very similar to the British Ministry," Auntie Lu said, waving her hand dismissively. When she'd changed her shoes, everyone linked arms and Apparated to the Canadian Ministry, and Lily found that it was, in fact, very similar to the British Ministry.

James pulled Auntie Lu aside. "Lu," he said, glancing at Lily as she talked to Mary. "What do you think Dad would say if I came home engaged to Lily?"

"I think he would say that you made the right call," she said, beaming. James could tell she was trying really hard to hold in a squeal of excitement. "For a good ring, you want to go to Ed Vanders' jewelry shop down in Vertic Alley. Tell him Luella sent you, he'll give you a good deal. Now, how much money have you got?" she asked, rustling around for some coins.

"Auntie Lu, I'm not going to let you pay for Lily's engagement ring!" James exclaimed, but it was too late – Luella had shoved a towering stack of Galleons into his hand, kissed everyone goodbye, and zoomed off to her office so fast, James could've sworn she'd Apparated there. Sighing, he approached a boy selling_ Owl Post,_ the Canadian equivalent of _The Daily Prophet_. "Where's Vertic Alley?" he asked.

"It's behind the Hippogriff's Talon on Denman Street. You can Floo there," the boy said helpfully, and James bought a paper for his trouble.

Helo me baby fuck m y ass, said James.

"Thanks, mate," he replied, before grabbing Lily, Mary and Sirius, and making for the nearest fireplace. "The Hippogriff's Talon!" he yelled, grabbing some Floo powder and disappearing in the green flames. The three followed suit, and they were shooting out of another grate seconds later.

The Hippogriff's Talon was very similar to the Hog's Head, full of pungent smoke and hooded people sipping firewhiskey. Lily approached the old bartender, and James wrapped a protective arm around her waist . "Excuse me," she said, and he looked up from his work. "How do we get into Vertic Alley?"

"You tap the purple brick out back with your wand and say the password," he replied in a bored voice. "This week, it's bowtruckle." Lily thanked him, and the foursome headed out back to enter Vertic Alley.

As the bricks melted away, James fingered the pile of gold in his pocket. _I'll pay Auntie Lu back_, he vowed. _Not paying for your girlfriend's engagement ring is bad karma._ But, as there was no Gringotts here, he had no choice but to spend Luella's money on the ring. They headed down the streets, passing stores like the ones in Diagon Alley – wand shops, owleries, apothecaries, and robe shops. "Padfoot!" James said, pointing to Canada's Best Quidditch Outlet. "Look!" He started to exclaim about it loudly, and Sirius followed suit, confused. Finally, Lily and Mary gave in.

"Okay," Mary said. "Lily and I are going to walk around." (Lily was already looking longingly at the bookstore.) "We'll be back in an hour, and you'll have to be ready. Okay?"

"Okay," they replied, and Mary and Lily ran off through the crowded streets.

"Prongs, what the hell was that about?" Sirius asked.

"Come on," James muttered, having spotted the sign that said, _Ed Vanders: Maker of Fine Jewelry_.

***

A bell tinkled softly as the two Marauders entered the jewelry shop. They had entered a nice, well-lit shop full of glittering jewels and shining baubles of every kind. An old man looked up from setting a moonstone in a platinum band, wearing one of those jewelers' monocles. "May I help you?" he asked, looking deranged with one extra-large pupil from the monocle.

"Yes," James replied decisively. "I'm shopping for an engagement ring, and Luella Potter told me to come here." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sirius' jaw drop.

The jeweler smiled. "Are you James?" James nodded. "Luella has told me all about you," he said, laughing. "Let's get started. We have some beautiful moonstones that just came in today, mined by elves, unless you would prefer a diamond?"

"It has to be a diamond," Sirius said to James. "Bellatrix's mum spent my younger years telling me not to be cheap when it comes to girls. Not getting a diamond would be cheap."

"O-okay," James said, a little overwhelmed. This whole jewelry thing was crazy.

After almost 45 minutes, quite a few different gems, and an incident where Sirius somehow got his hand stuck in a glass case, James had picked out the ring for Lily: a simple white gold band with a diamond sandwiched between two moonstones. "Should I have it engraved?" he asked Sirius.

"No time!" Sirius said frantically, glancing at the clock.

"Okay, it's been set," Ed Vanders said, giving James a little black velvet box. "The total is 90 Galleons. Anything else?"

"I'll take that locket," James said, pointing to an engraved heart on a silver chain.

"An excellent choice, sir. That brings the total to 120 Galleons."

Luella had given James nearly 200 Galleons. He paid up, and Ed Vanders bowed him and Sirius from the shop. "When are you going to propose?" Sirius asked.

"Tonight," James said. "But first, everything has to be perfect."

"It'll be fine, mate," Padfoot replied as they ran back to the Quidditch supply store, where Lily and Mary were looking for them.

_Merlin, I hope so,_ James prayed as he ran. He had a lot of preparing to do.


	13. The End of Denman Street

Chapter 13 – The End of Denman Street

A/N: I'm doing this while reading _Billy Budd_ for school, so forgive me if this is a bit archaic in the beginning.

Disclaimer: If only.

_Maybe heaven's where you are_. – Anna Nalick

"So, James is taking you _where_?" Mary asked as Lily showered under the Silenced water.

"I don't know!" Lily babbled excitedly. "He just said to dress up nice because he was taking me out!"

Mary smiled. "Thank Merlin you got that dress in San Francisco while the guys were off doing God-knows-what."

Behind the shower curtain, Lily bit her lip. Mary was Lily's best friend, and this was the first major secret that she had ever kept from her. "Yeah," she said finally. "Thank God for the dress."

The dress in question was a dark green, strapless number that Lily had bought, as Mary had said, at a boutique in San Francisco. It was simple, without many frills, and made of satin. However, Lily had a talent for turning simple things into extraordinary things, which was shown as she shoved her feet into black pumps, smoked her eyes with charcoal shadow and black mascara, brushed out her hair, fastened James' charm bracelet around her wrist, and borrowed Auntie Lu's diamond necklace and matching earrings. Finally, Sirius banged on the door. "Oi, Evans!" he yelled. "Prongs is about ready to wet himself. Are you ready or what?"

"You're such a sweetheart, Padface," Lily yelled back as she grabbed a black shawl and opened the door. Sirius, Auntie Lu, and James stood on the other side, James glaring daggers at Sirius. "But yes, I'm ready."

James looked up and nearly went into shock. "You – you – you," he stammered, his jaw practically hitting the floor.

"You, too!" Lily exclaimed appreciatively, noting her boyfriend's crisp, white dress shirt, black slacks and matching jacket. _And I always thought that thing about boys looking better dressed up was just a myth!_ she exclaimed inwardly, appreciating the effort he'd made.

"Shall we?" he asked, extending his arm for her to take.

"We shall," she replied, pecking him on the cheek. He took her hand, and they closed their eyes, turned, and Apparated.

"Well," Auntie Lu said, staring at the spot where James and Lily had disappeared. "All we can do know is order a pizza and wait."

***

"What do you mean, I'm not on the list?" James snapped at the maitre'd ofLe Canard Bleu, who was stubbornly repeating that _Potter, party of two_, was not on the registration list. "I called at like noon!"

"We overbooked, sir. I'm very sorry."

_I can tell,_ James thought darkly as he led Lily back outside. "Well, that's scuppered then," he said dejectedly. "What do you want to do for dinner?"

"Chinese?" she asked, grabbing his hand and Apparating him to a trendy-looking fusion restaurant back on Denman Street. "I noticed this place when we were walking back from Vertic Alley. What do you think?"

"I think it looks great," he replied with a smile, holding the door open for her. Two plates of broccoli chicken and prawns and two glasses of wine later, he and Lily were walking down Denman Street towards the water. "Gelato, milady?" he asked upon spying a gelateria.

"Please," she replied with a smile, and they were happily clutching plastic spoons mere minutes later. Lily rolled strachiatella and lemon around her tongue, remembering the magic of Piazza San Marco, the soft light, the pigeons and the pink palace.

"Come on," James voice broke her reverie. "Let's go down to the water." He pointed at a pocket of beach at the end of the road that seemed to have sprung up out of nowhere. The city lights were reflected in the freezing water. She nodded, and James took her hand, leading her along.

When they reached the beach, Lily tightened her shawl around her. This beach was a far cry from Fiji – this was _cold_. James saw this and placed his jacket on her shoulders. She smiled gratefully, putting her arms into the sleeves, and James took a deep breath. Time to start.

***

At Auntie Lu's, the pizza had long since been eaten and Luella was teaching Sirius and Mary how to play Yahtzee. "Isn't Yahtzee a Muggle game?" Mary asked, looking at the dice warily. "How would you know about Yahtzee?"

"Oh, who _cares _about Yahtzee," Sirius snapped. James' intentions for the evening had made him very irritable.

"Merlin, Sirius, calm down," Mary shot back, narrowing her eyes. "What's up with you?"

Luella couldn't contain herself anymore. "James is going to propose to Lily tonight!" she squealed, and Mary shrieked. Yahtzee completely forgotten, Auntie Lu got a carton of ice cream from the fridge and spent the rest of the evening obsessing with Mary, as Sirius served himself a bowl and grabbed a quidditch magazine, trying and failing to distract himself.

"Sod it," he said finally, throwing the magazine down. "Let's go."

***

"Hey, so I got you something," James said after Lily had pulled him down next to her on a driftwood log and they'd kissed for awhile. _Stop shaking, legs,_ he ordered them sternly. _I can just see myself trying to get down on one knee and falling on my face instead._ James tried to banish the bad thoughts from his mind as he took the little box out of his pocket.

"Jewelry?" Lily asked with a smile. "May I?"

"It's yours," James grinned. "Take it."

Lily opened the box and lifted the silver locket out. The silver glittered in the streetlight and she smiled. "It's _beautiful_," she breathed, taking in the dainty chain and the meticulously engraved front.

"Open it," James said, trying to keep the apprehension off his face and out of his voice. James got down on one knee just when she managed to open it. James' voice drifted out of the compartment. "_Lily Evans, will you marry me?_"

Lily's breath caught in her throat. "Wha…James?" she asked, before looking up and seeing him on one knee. When she did, she screamed so loudly that a group of Japanese tourists looked at them curiously and James blushed.

"So, um, is that a yes?" James asked. "Because I'm really freaked out here." _And my knee hurts_, he added silently.

Lily just opened and closed her mouth for awhile, seemingly incapable of speech. "Yes," she breathed finally. "Holy shit, yes!"

"Wait, seriously?" James asked, and a big, goofy grin spread across his face when she nodded and began to shake. "Oh, my God. This is so great…here," he stammered, reaching into his pocket and taking the diamond and moonstone ring out. As he slipped it onto her ring finger, she burst into loud tears. At this point, the witch and wizard had attracted some attention, and a couple of random Canadians were pointing and cooing along with the Japanese tourists. "How lovely," an old lady murmured, and her equally old friend smiled and nodded. These comments were drowned out by an even louder shout, however.

"_LILY EVANS!"_ Mary screeched, and Lily tore her lips from James' to run screaming into Mary's arms. "Oh, my God!" they yelled, jumping up and down and shrieking incoherently. Auntie Lu flung her arms around James in tears, and Sirius thumped him on the back.

"Well done, Prongs," he said with a smile. "You did it!"

"_I DID IT!_" James shouted, and he was hit with déjà vu as he and Sirius slapped each other high fives and jumped around like little boys.

After what seemed like ages of jumping around and yelling on the beach, the tide started coming in. Lily raced to James' side and pressed her lips to his ear. "We're getting _married_," she breathed hoarsely, and he grinned, kissing her.

"Come on!" he yelled after a moment, seeing a bar across the street. "Champagne for whoever wants it! Even you, Japanese man! Hell, I'm in a giving mood – champagne for _everyone_!" James grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her across the street to the bar. Sirius followed with Auntie Lu and an almighty whoop, and the Japanese tourists shrugged and chased after the group. Free champagne was never something to turn down.

A/N: Hell yes! There'll probably be two, maybe three more chapters after this. R&R!!!


	14. The Letters

Chapter 14 – The Letters

Disclaimer: A list of things I wish I had: the really hot Comcast guy who came to fix my Internet today, the _Harry Potter_ franchise, and a car. *cough FAIRY GODMOTHER cough*.

A/N: This story hit 40 pages on MS Word at 9:45 PM PST on November 10, 2008, thus becoming the LONGEST STORY I have EVER WRITTEN. And it is all thanks to you, my fabulous, lovely, most wonderful reviewers. I love you ALL, especially callie, Ariel, cookie dough, and aridnie. Also for anyone who saves fanfics in Word (which is fine, just don't plagiarize), Lily's handwriting is 9-pt. Bradley Hand ITC, James' is 9-pt. Kristen ITC, Harry's is 12-pt. Monotype Corsiva, and Dumbledore's is 12-pt. Freestyle Script.

Sunlight was streaming through the slats of Auntie Lu's Venetian blinds when James woke the next morning. Lily shifted in his arms, still asleep, and James smiled in a self-satisfied way, remembering the events of the night before.

After the four friends, Auntie Lu, and the Japanese tourists had stormed into the bar, James had addressed the patrons with a loud shout. "We're getting married! Who wants champagne?" Everyone in the bar had cheered loudly, and the bottle was passed around the room.

"To James and Lily Potter!" Sirius shouted, and the bar had echoed his sentiments. Around midnight, the five witches and wizards had stumbled back to Auntie Lu's in a champagne haze. James' grin became even wider as he remembered how Lily had grabbed him by the collar, yanked him into their room, and promptly jumped into his arms, kissing a trail down his neck as he simultaneously pulled off her dress and pushed her onto the bed. She had grabbed him and pulled him on top of her, tearing off his shirt as he dipped his head to ravish her breasts and–

Lily opened her eyes, smiling, and James grudgingly stopped his train of thought. "What time is it?" she asked lazily.

"Who cares?" he replied, drawing her closer to him. They snuggled for a moment before a horrible thought occurred to him. "Wait…after last night…you're not–"

"Merlin, no," she said with wide eyes, guessing what he was going to ask. "Contraceptive Charm works every time." She blushed and he kissed her red cheeks, amused.

"You're so beautiful, Ms. Potter," he whispered, letting his hands drift.

"No roaming, Mr. Potter!" she replied, slapping his hands cheekily. He growled, nuzzling her shoulder, and she giggled, pushing him away playfully before a tear ran down her cheek.

James looked up and found her crying. "What is it?" he asked in concern.

"I-I just wish my mother was here," she whispered. "And I wish my dad could give me away."

"Maybe Remus could do the honors," James mused as she buried her head in his neck, letting the wave of grief break.

Eventually, she lifted her head to stare into his hazel eyes. "You don't think we're moving too fast, do you?"

"Of course not!" James exclaimed. "We only have so much time, and we should make the most of it!" A horrible thought occurred to him. "You're not backing out, are you?"

"No!" Lily cried, aghast. "I just wanted to make sure that you weren't doing this just because you knew you had to eventually."

"Don't be silly, Evans," he whispered, tracing a thumb along her spine. She shivered at his touch, and at the use of her last name was thrown back into 1999 in her mind, seeing herself on the snowy grass with Harry and in the boys' dormitory with James. Untangling herself from James, she grabbed a quill, ink and parchment and pulled on underwear and a shirt that said "BULA FIJI" in large letters. "Are the clothes really necessary?" James asked, looking crestfallen.

"Yes," she said with one end of the quill between her teeth. "I'm cold."

"I could warm you up," he purred, reaching for the shirt's hem. She giggled and swatted at him playfully before getting serious.

"James. Put on pants."

"Yes, dear."

When James was decent, he sat back down next to her on the bed. "Whatcha writing?"

"Letter to Harry," Lily mumbled mid-write. James leaned over her shoulder to read what she had written so far. _Dear Harry,_ she wrote. _I can't stop thinking about you and wondering how you're doing. While you continue to remember your father and myself, I hope that you won't dwell on it too much. And okay, so this letter won't help things much. I just wanted to say again that I love you and I hope you are well. Your father proposed to me last night, and I accepted. The wheels are in motion, and I couldn't be happier. Make sure you tell Remus, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. I know they'll want to hear from me – James Harold Potter, you are such a little voyeur! Stop reading over my shoulder!_ James blushed and looked at the wall on the other side of the room, and Lily kept writing, smirking. _Okay, got rid of your father. Honestly, some people have no respect for privacy (don't give me that look, I love him!) I'm going to try and tie a Timeturner to an owl and send it into the future with this. Please don't tell Dumbledore as I'm sure this is completely illegal, and it might not even work. Maybe it'll be sent back to, like, 1790. If it has, hi people from 1790! Please don't make women wear corsets, as they're very uncomfortable indeed. Okay. Here's your father._ She passed the quill to James, who seized it and began to write.

_Son!_ he wrote jubilantly. _A word of fatherly-type advice: when you propose to your future wife (I bet its Ginny. Is it Ginny? I bet it is), anyways, when you propose to her, do it on a beach. Girls love the beach. Like, seriously. Something about the ocean drives them crazy._ Lily snatched the quill away. _Your father is just being silly,_ she interrupted. _Ginny (I agree, I bet its Ginny), she'll be happy with whatever you manage to think up. As long as the ring has a diamond in it _(_Thank you, Padfoot_, James thought,) _and you love each other, it'll be great._ James stole the pen back. _Merlin, Lily, you wouldn't even let me look at what you were writing. Away with ye! Okay, she's gone. So anyways, I still think about you quite a bit. Now that I've proposed to Lily, I suppose it's only a matter of time before I meet you again. Please don't be that really annoying baby that's colicky and never lets a man get a good night's sleep. Also, I hope you like really horrid jumpers and such, because I'm sure that's what your mum will force you into. I'll say goodbye now and hand the quill back to your mother. Goodbye. I love you (crap, that's weird to say to your future son. I still do, though. Here's your mother.) James._

_I love you, Sweetheart_, Lily wrote. _I'll be meeting you soon. I only wish we could have had more time together. Hopefully I'll be able to send you more letters like this one. Lily._

"Well," she said, slipping into a pair of jeans. "I guess it's time to go buy an owl."

Once they had returned from Vertic Alley with a tiny Scops owl, Lily wrapped the Timeturner around it and turned the hourglass twenty times. "Bye," she whispered as the owl faded away.

***

"_Harry, there's an owl's wing on your bed with a Timeturner and a letter on it," Neville said, gaping at the strange sight. Harry turned, saw the familiar handwriting on the outside, rushed over, and grabbed the letter. As he read, a smile unfurled across his face like a banner. He grabbed a quill, ink and parchment, and began to reply._

***

A mere two hours later, Lily and James were sitting at Auntie Lu's kitchen table when there was a bang like a gun, a giant flash of light, and a letter and Timeturner were sitting in the middle of the table. They both lunged for it, and Lily tore open the envelope.

_Mum,_ Harry wrote. _Dad. Just so you know, the owl you sent the letter with arrived in several pieces. There was a wing on my bed, and apparently, the head and legs ended up in Dumbledore's office. When he found them, he guessed what had happened and…he wasn't too chuffed. I'm allowed to reply, but we aren't supposed to correspond after this. It's good to hear from both of you. Hermione and Ginny send their regards to Lily about the engagement (by regards, I mean that they jumped around shouting about marriage for awhile.) Hogwarts is still reeling from your reappearance. A couple of goth Slytherin girls tried to send themselves back to 1902, and they ended up…I suppose they ended up in the time traveling equivalent of splinched. Again, Dumbledore was not chuffed at all. I miss you both, but I suppose I'll be seeing you soon. Harry._

There was an enclosed letter from Dumbledore, who, as Harry had stated, was not happy at all. _Ms. Evans and Mr. Potter,_ he wrote. _While I appreciate that you miss your son and his friends, I must impress upon you the seriousness of your actions. This sort of recklessness could have meddled with the effects of time very badly, causing Marlin-knows-what. Please do not do this again. If you do, your Ministry will know, make no doubt about it. Yours Truly, Albus Dumbledore._

"Okay, so we're not doing that again," James said after reading the letters. Lily, who was beet-red, nodded. They heard a key turn in Auntie Lu's lock and hurriedly stashed the letters in Lily's bag, just in time for Sirius to enter the room and greet the engaged couple most jovially.

A/N: I'm not really very happy about the end of this chapter. I think it was mostly lengthener/filler…next two chapters definitely have a purpose though. See you soon!


	15. Homeward Bound

Chapter 15 – Homeward Bound

"Bugger it all," Lily grumbled, pushing her hair out of her face. She had been packing for the last few hours, but it had been very slow going. Her engagement ring kept catching the light and sparkling, and she would have to stop and stare at it, entranced.

"Merlin, Lily, you're worse than Sirius," Mary said with a laugh as she found Lily sitting on her bed, completely engrossed in her left hand.

"It's so…_sparkly_," Lily breathed, turning her ring finger this way and that. She snapped back into focus when Mary waved a hand in front of Lily's face. "What?"

"Honey, we gotta go," Mary said, bringing Lily back into reality. "We have to go to the airport so we can go back to England and tell everyone that you and James are engaged!"

"Remind me why we aren't Apparating back to England?" Sirius asked James in the living room.

"Because thanks to recent events, Lily doesn't have any more connections to the Muggle world and wants to travel like a Muggle one last time before she marries me and immerses herself in Wizarding culture," James recited.

"That sounds verbatim," Sirius remarked.

"It is."

Lily and Mary appeared then, dragging their suitcases, and Auntie Lu burst into loud tears at the sight of her four beloved teenagers, all packed and ready to go. "_Jamesie-poooooooo_," she wailed, grabbing James in a rib-crushing hug. "I'm going to miss you _so much_." She threw her arms around Mary and Sirius before getting to Lily. "You're a Potter now, sweetie," she said. "Think of me as your Auntie Lu, and call on me if you need anything."

"Thank you," Lily replied, returning Luella's hug with a smile. "I will."

The airport trip was the same as countless others the four friends had experienced over the last couple months, but this one was the last one, Lily noted with a pang. She watched as Sirius, Mary, and James went through the metal detectors like Muggles, without any exclamations of awe, forgotten wands, or trying to climb into the x-ray machine. As she looked out the window at the evergreens, rain, and Pacific Ocean for the last time, she closed her eyes and let her breath fog up the glass. "I promise I'll be back," she whispered to her Pacific, watching it drift slowly away as the jet stream carried her home. When it was out of sight, she rolled over in her seat, and rested her head on James' shoulder. He ruffled her hair affectionately as images of their meanderings played out in her head like a slideshow. She watched Sirius stumble around the Disgruntled House-Elf with an old Belgian warlock named Krijn, saw the ambulance boat speeding towards her with its screeching siren, and smiled as she remembered her and James' first kiss across two plane seats. The moonlight shone on her skin as James watched her from the shore, a stag was flinging a dog into a chest of drawers, and Japanese tourists were drunk and dancing as James kissed her so hard she lifted off her feet. The last picture that swam through her mind before she drifted off to sleep was of her and James standing on the dewy grass at her graduation party. A smile crept onto her face, and she nestled deeper into James' shoulder, dead to the world.

***

"_Upsie daisies, Lilyflower!_"

"Bluhhhh?" Lily asked sleepily. She opened her eyes to find Sirius' face inches from her own and shrieked, batting it away. "Sirius Orion Black! What the hell was that for?"

"You're awake, aren't you?" Lily rolled her eyes, but he had gotten her with that one. "Anyways, we're in Heathrow! England! The British Isles! We're–"

"–Home, yes," James finished with a fond smile. "Come on, petal, we have to get off the plane, go to my house, and see my parents."

"Do I have to?" Lily asked, using a whine to distract James from the butterflies in her stomach. He nodded, offering her his hand, and she took it, cracking her stiff joints and following the Muggle in front of her off the plane. Once all the bags were collected, Lily, James, and Sirius bade Mary goodbye (with many tears from both girls.) Mary went into the girls' bathroom and Apparated to her house in Ottery St. Catchpole, and James, Lily, and Sirius went down to the parking garage to Side-Along-Apparate to James' house in Godric Hollow.

Lily barely had time to take in the stately manor before the front door burst open and Ms. Potter ran at James and Sirius, screaming and throwing her arms around them. "My boys are home!" she shrieked, and the three friends and Mr. Potter clamped hands over their ears in agony.

Suddenly, Lily felt a pair of hands covering her eyes. "Guess who?" a voice asked, and she shrieked, whirling around to throw her arms around Remus. "You heard, didn't you?" he asked.

"James told me," she said, pulling away. "I knew already, but don't worry. I'll never say anything." They hugged again before James and Sirius spotted the werewolf, yelled "_Moony!_" and launched themselves at him. Laughing, she turned to Ms. Potter. "Hi," she said, wanting to make a good impression. "We met once before, I'm Lily."

"Welcome home, dear," Ms. Potter said, shaking Lily's left hand. "Oh my, are you engaged?" Mr. Potter peered over his wife's shoulder, suddenly rather interested.

"Ummm," Lily stammered. "_James, little help here!_"

***

"My baby boy is getting married?" Ms. Potter asked in disbelief as Mr. Potter patted her on the shoulder.

"Yes," James said firmly, covering Lily's ringed hand with his.

"You – you don't think you're too young?" Ms. Potter breathed.

"Usually we would feel like we were," Lily piped up. "But what with this whole war and James and I joining the Order, we just feel like we want to make use of the time we have."

"Mum?" James asked warily. "Are you on board with this?"

"My little boy is all grown up!" James' mum choked, running around the dining room table and grabbing James in a bone-crushing hug.

Mr. Potter rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Welcome to the family, Lily," he said, holding out a hand. But Lily had other plans – she bypassed the hand and went straight for the hug. Mr. Potter looked a bit surprised, but went with it.

"Oh, sweetie," Ms. Potter said, finally letting go of James, who was massaging his ribs. "I'm so happy for you. Dumbledore sent us your things and told us the news. I put it all in a guest room – you're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you," Lily said, relieved, and Ms. Potter grabbed her in a similar hug to James'. "Grachk," she choked as the wind was squeezed out of her.

"Welcome to the family, Lily!" James laughed and Lily smiled. For the first time since her parents' death, she felt like she had a real family again.

A/N: Next chapter is the wedding! What? Yes! Ahhhhh!


	16. The Ceremony

Chapter 16 – The Ceremony

A/N: Okay, so the outfits don't really fit the time period. But I had a scary amount of fun looking at indie wedding dresses online. Lily's dress links here (.com/view_?ref=vl_other_2&listing_id=8041934), and Mary's dress links here (it's the blue one) (.tv/Bridesmaid%). Let me know if there are any link problems. And now…it's wedding time! Yeahhhhhh! Enjoy and R&R, my lovelies.

Lily had never been so terrified in her entire life. The time when Petunia dared her to go into the dark basement alone when she was nine, the time when a rat had scampered across her dormitory floor and _waved_ at her (_Wormtail_, Lily realized with a shock), the time when Snape had shown her his Patronus, and the time when she and James had first arrived in 1999 had _nothing_ on this. Lily watched her hand shake as Mary, in her pale blue satin Maid of Honor's dress, wrapped her arms around her from behind. "You're going to do _great,_" she whispered, as though Lily was about to go onto the field and play the Big Game.

"I know," Lily mumbled, palms sweating like mad. She had underestimated the significance of every step of planning she had taken to get ready for this moment. The dress, the shoes, the flowers, the cake, the piles of presents in the Potters' guest room, everything was just a building block to her standing right here, in front of this mirror, about to walk down the aisle to meet the rest of her life.

"You look gorgeous. Are you wearing the underwear I gave you?" Mary asked, poking Lily in the ribs, and Lily giggled, reddening. Mary had thrown her a lingerie shower (despite Lily's many protests), and most of Lily's old dorm mates had shown up, along with some of the ladies in the Order. Scarily enough, this had included Professor McGonagall, who got rather sloshed on firewhiskey and ended up giving Lily a teddy. Lily had thanked McGonagall but had stuffed the teddy in the back of her closet the minute she returned to the Potters, vowing never to wear it, lest she ponder the fact that her _Transfiguration teacher_ had given her _lingerie._ Lily broke out of this disturbing reverie with a shudder, fingering the delicate strand of pearls around her neck. "Okay, just to check," Mary said, forcing Lily to look at her. "Something old?"

"My pearls."

"Something new? And the dress doesn't count."

"My veil."

"Something borrowed?"

"Your shoes."

"Something blue?"

"The moonstones in my ring."

"You've got it," Mary said. "Shit, I can't believe you're getting married. Doesn't it seem like we just got our Hogwarts letters?"

"Stop it, you're going to make me cry," Lily whimpered, the tears threatening to spill over. Mary kissed her on the cheek and they both went to stand in the procession line. Lily watched as James' little cousin, Tara, wobbled down the aisle in a pink dress, scattering rose petals around. There was a pause, and Mary adjusted her nosegay of honeysuckle. Giving Lily one last hug, she proceeded down the aisle as they had practiced so many times.

Remus looked over at Lily's heaving shoulders and squeezed her hand. "Cold feet?" he asked.

"No," Lily replied. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. "Just – nervous."

"You don't have to impress anyone," Remus reminded her. "Today is all about you." There was a dramatic pause in the music, and "Here Comes the Bride" began to play. Remus hooked her arm through his. "Show time," he whispered, before taking his first step out onto the aisle with Lily.

James nearly fell over when Lily took her first tentative steps onto the white cloth aisle with Remus on her arm. In her beige dress with its silk bodice, row of embroidered lily flowers across her stomach and up her side and tulle skirt, she looked just like an angel. Her hair was down and waved a bit, and it made her veil look even whiter than usual. Her green eyes shone over her bouquet of white roses and (what else?) lilies. Lily and Mary had looked long and hard for this dress, finally finding it in a Muggle shop on the outskirts of Dublin. Mary had paired it her favorite pair of strappy white sandals, and the result was breathtaking. "Bugger my giddy aunt," he muttered to Sirius, his best man, who nodded, grinning. "Wait…is there frosting on your finger?" Padfoot nodded. "…I don't want to know, do I." Padfoot shook his head, and then Lily was next to him, handing her bouquet to Mary.

The tiny, white-haired priest cleared his throat. "Who gives this woman away?"

"I do," Remus said, letting go of Lily's hand. She flung her arms around him and whispered her thanks in his ear.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the priest began. "We are gathered here today to join James Harold Potter and Lily Patricia Evans in holy matrimony." He began a spiel on marriage and its' joys, but Lily couldn't concentrate. James' eyes were boring into her, almost as though he could see past all the exterior roadblocks of her body and right down into her soul. "Do you, James Potter, take Lily Evans to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only unto her?"

"I do," James said, squeezing Lily's hands.

"And do you, Lily Evans, take James Potter to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect him, forsaking all others and holding only unto him?"

"I do," Lily whispered, smiling.

The rings were exchanged – two plain white gold bands. After she had slipped the ring onto James' finger and he had done the same, she looked out into the audience at the three empty spaces where Petunia and her parents should've been. _It's not like they aren't here_, Mary's voice chided her. _You know that_.

"By the power vested in me by God and the Ministry of Magic, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," the priest added with a knowing smile, and James grabbed Lily's waist, kissing her so hard she wouldn't be surprised if her lips bruised.

Suddenly, she felt something crawling on her hand. "James," she said, in carefully controlled tones. "My ring has Transfigured itself into a ladybug."

James saw Sirius sniggering out of the corner of his eye and flushed. "Um, yeah, I–"

"_James, the ladybug just peed on me!_"

"What? How could a ladybug pee on you? It's an insect and – oh Merlin, your hand is _orange_." James recoiled, horrified. By now, Sirius was busting up completely.

"Sirius _Orion_ BLACK!" Lily screeched, her voice growing louder and more high-pitched with each word. Grabbing James' hand, she chased Sirius down the aisle and out of the church.

The priest cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, Lily and James Potter!" The crowd clapped tentatively, Peter snickered, and Lupin and Mary buried their heads in their hands. Eventually, however, everyone got up and headed outside where the reception was to take place.


	17. The Reception

Chapter 17 – The Reception

A/N: People are telling me that links aren't working…go to . (don't copy and paste, apparently that doesn't work.) When the page loads, click on "dresses" on the right-hand menu. Two little arrows should appear to the left of "dresses". Scroll down and click on "Couture Handmade Wedding Ensemble". It is GORGEOUS. Let me know if this works! (Sorry this took so long, American Studies kind of took over my soul for a little while.)

Stepping through the garden gate, Lily's first thought was, _wow_. The sun was just beginning to set. The trees were full of candles, lanterns had been magicked to float in midair, and there were white tables all over the place, as well as a stage and a table with a large cake and even more presents on it. The setting made all the guests, who were standing around talking and laughing, look more beautiful than they normally would.

"_LILY!_" Mary screamed like a banshee, running over to Lily and hugging her so hard that Lily's feet actually left the ground. They screamed, jumped up and down, and did all the necessary girl things before Lily was caught in a storm of congratulations from what seemed like the entire Potter family. Mr. and Ms. Potter, both sets of James' grandparents, all his aunts, uncles, and cousins, they were all thrilled to meet her. It was rather overwhelming, as thought the world had been taken over by skinny, raven-haired people named Potter.

The next wave of people consisted mostly of Order members – Dorcas Meadowes, Marlene McKinnon, Dedulas Diggle, Elphias Doge, Sturgis Podmore, Hestia Jones, Amelia Bones, Emmeline Vance, and Professor McGonagall, who hugged Lily for the second time in her life. "Congratulations, Ms. Evans," Dumbledore said in her ear with a smile, and she threw her arms around the old man as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Eventually, all the guests had congratulated her except for the Marauders, who were still standing around James, who had been forced to pull a lace garter over his right pant leg. Lily had kicked off her shoes long ago, and she fairly flew towards them across the wet grass.

"_Lily-fucking-flower!_" Sirius bellowed, seeing her. Laughing wildly, he picked her up in a huge bear hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around. "You stole Prongs from us! How could you?" he joked.

"Just take good care of him," Remus added, and she threw her arms around him as he planted a kiss on the top of her head. She hugged Peter shortly (she had never fully understood why the Marauders hung out with him, but knew she should accept him,) before James took her hand and led her towards the table that housed the enormous, white, buttercream frosted cake.

They rounded the side that wasn't facing the guests and stopped short. "Well, that would explain why there was frosting on his finger," James said faintly, as proverbial smoke billowed from Lily's ears.

There was a giant, jagged hole in the back half of the cake, as though an animal had bitten and clawed it away. To be fair, it could have been a bird or a squirrel or something, had it not been for the frosting-covered paw prints leading away from the cake to the altar, where Sirius had been licking the frosting off his fingers during the ceremony. A furious ringing filled Lily's ears, and she acted without thinking. "_Accio pumps!_" she shrieked, and her shoes came flying from across the lawn into her hand. Sirius saw them and started running, but she shook her head evilly, and he was brought next to her with a flick of her wand.

"Lilyflower, please, we can reason, right?" Sirius begged, as the guests looked on, confused. Lily shook her head, stilling smiling like a maniac, and began whacking every inch of him she could reach, with a smacking of soles as the spiky heels caught on various things. "Ow! Ow! _Ouch!_ Dammit, flower, stop!"

"_You! Ruined! The! Cake!" _she shrieked, smacking him with each word. Desperate to get away, Sirius grabbed at the first thing he saw and hurled it at her, which is how Lily ended up with a face full of cake. Her eyes widened in shock, and Sirius cringed. _Oh, buggerfuck, she's going to kill me!_ he thought desperately. She spat out a mouthful of frosting on the ground in a very unladylike fashion, before grabbing a handful of her own. "RRRRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!" she screeched, launching it at his beloved hair. But Sirius dodged the cake in an evasive move that would've made the cast of _The Matrix_ proud, and it hit James' glasses in a vision-obscuring _splat_! "OhmyGod James, I'm so sorry!" she gasped, running towards him, before slipping on a frosted paw print and falling on her ass. After helping her up, James handed her a handful of cake and the newlyweds attacked Sirius with renewed vigor, smearing cake and frosting in his hair and all over his expensive dress robes.

"How did Black ruin the cake again?" a confused guest asked Remus, who was watching the fight with an expression that was both horrified and bored.

"Um…Sirius has a dog named Padfoot who really likes cake," Remus improvised, looking relieved when the guest seemed to buy it. Eventually, the threesome stopped fighting and started laughing before James and Lily fed each other pieces and the remains of the once-beautiful cake were served to the amused guests.

The reception continued with dinner, dancing, drinks, and a newly _Scourgify_-ed bride, groom, and best man. Lily danced with James, Sirius, Remus, Mary, her grandparents, and even Mr. Potter after the bumbling emcee announced a father-daughter dance.

The time to leave came when night had long since fallen, and fireflies darted through the trees, mingling with the lanterns and candles. As James settled Lily in the back seat of the limousine and gave her what had to be their millionth kiss as husband and wife, she was so happy she failed to notice a conspiring look that Peter and Sirius shared, while Remus glowered, rolling his eyes. It was her and James and the future, finally together. And that was the happiest happy ever after she had ever heard of.


	18. Special Thanks, Etc

Chapter 18 – Special Thanks, Etc.

Holy 47 pages/18th chapter, Batman! This is the longest, and, in my opinion, best fic I have ever written. And it was all thanks to a bunch of people who aren't me, specifically cookiedoughYUM, callie, caitycullen, aridnie, and Ariel (where'd you go?), the music of Belle and Sebastian and Spoon, and everyone who read and reviewed, or at least read! Thank you all _so much_, my next project should be coming soon. It'll either be the Marauders crash the honeymoon or I'll keep working on _One Week Without Magic_. I would love your feedback on what you think I should do, so R&R and let me know! THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS, I LOVE YOU ALL!


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